MANCHESTER, N.H. – Down by five points at halftime, the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team outscored its opponent by a 44-31 margin in the second half to secure a 74-66 victory over No. 24-ranked Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday.

Saint Anselm improves to 1-2 on the year, both overall and within the Northeast-10 Conference. Southern New Hampshire, ranked No. 24 in NCAA Division II by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, began the season with a 4-0 record and picks up the team's first loss of the 2021-22 campaign – the Penmen are now 1-1 in NE10 play.

Senior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) was his team's leading point producer, canning 29 points with seven rebounds after making a game-high 10 free throws. Junior Owen McGlashan (Marlton, N.J.) had a career day for Saint Anselm, posting 12 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in 22 minutes off the bench.

Southern New Hampshire crept out to a seven-point lead, a game-high figure, with 12:34 remaining in the first half. The Penmen used a 10-point scoring run to take control early, limiting the Hawks to an 0-for-2 shooting performance and four turnovers.

Saint Anselm tied the score in the waning minutes of the first half twice, but could not complete the comeback in the opening 20 minutes. The Hawks actually outshot the Penmen by a 48%-to-38.2% margin from the floor and owned the glass (20-18), but committed 13 first-half miscues and missed four of their first seven free throw attempts.

The Hawks came out of the locker room with a hot start on offense, making seven of the team's first 10 field goals that included eight points from senior Matt Relihan (Lynnfield, Mass.) via two three's and a layup. His final three of the span came with 13:28 to go, creating a 48-44 lead for Saint Anselm.

Another 10-0 scoring spurt for the Penmen saw the Hawks trail by a six-point margin, 54-48, with 11:31 to go. The Hawks quickly countered with back-to-back free throws by Paul and a trey by McGlashan, cutting the visitors lead to one point, 54-53, with 10:22 remaining.

Down 60-56 with 8:49 left, Saint Anselm never looked back following a 10-2 run that was keyed by four-for-six shooting and four points each by Paul and senior Gustav Suhr-Jessen (Virum, Denmark). The Penmen shooters went cold at this point, missing six of their seven field goals.

After a layup by Jacari Sanders with 4:13 to go that cut the Penmen deficit to two points, 66-64, neither team would score again until a Suhr-Jessen layup with 2:20 left on the scoreboard. Paul poured home six successful free throws in the game's final 39 seconds to lock down the team's first win of the season.

Saint Anselm won the rebounding battle (41-to-33) and shot 50% (26-for-52), limiting Southern New Hampshire to just 40% shooting on the game. The Hawks did commit 18 turnovers, but the Penmen only scored eight points off those miscues. Saint Anselm scored 22 points off 13 turnovers and enjoyed 14 second-chance points.

Sanders led Southern New Hampshire with 24 points.

The Hawks will play three of their next four games in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium, hosting regional power Saint Thomas Aquinas on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 1 p.m.