EASTON, Mass. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team pulled away from Stonehill College late in Saturday afternoon's 68-58 victory for the Hawks.
Receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches' poll, Saint Anselm has won three games in a row to improve to 13-5 overall and to 9-4 against Northeast-10 Conference competition. Stonehill, who won the season's earlier meeting in Manchester, drops to 11-10 overall and to 7-8 in the NE10.
Senior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.), one of the league's top scorers, was 10-for-12 from the free throw line and finished the game with 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals – he moves into the top-10 career scoring list at Saint Anselm, passing Kris Tardio '00 with 1,749 career points in 110 games on the Hilltop.
Paul logged 18 of his 24 points in the final 20 minutes of game play, including 10 of those 18 from the free throw line. Classmate Gustav Suhr-Jessen (Virum, Denmark) logged his second consecutive game with a double-double, scoring 11 points with 11 rebounds for the 15th double-double of his collegiate career.
Neither team found its rhythm in the opening half as the squads played to a 27-27 deadlock leading into halftime – the biggest lead in the opening 20 minutes was just four points, a 22-18 advantage for Saint Anselm with 5:16 left. Stonehill's offense was focused through two 11-point scorers, however, while the Hawks had six score at least three points in the opener.
Saint Anselm took its first sizeable lead of the game just minutes into the second half, opening play with a 14-4 run that was keyed by two triples from junior Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif.) and an additional three-ball by sophomore Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.). Down by 10 points, 41-31, Stonehill countered with nine of the game's next 11 points to clip the Hawks lead to just three points, 43-40, with 12:27 to go.
The Hawks assumed control of the game near the midpoint of the second half as Suhr-Jessen hit a jumper with 10:41 remaining, turning a three-point Saint Anselm lead into a five-point bulge. Following a three-point miss by the Skyhawks, a fast-break dunk by Paul upped the lead to seven points.
Following a free throw miss by Saint Anselm with 4:43 left, Stonehill brought the ball up the floor and unleashed a 10-0 scoring run that reduced the Hawks lead to just one point, 59-58, with 2:13 left on the clock. The comeback would be thwarted as a turnover by Stonehill forced the hosts to foul from that point forward, allowing the Hawks to end the game on a 9-0 scoring run.
The teams produced nearly identical field goal percentages (40.4% for Saint Anselm, 39.3% for Stonehill), but the Hawks won the glass (43-to-34) and were whistled for just 11 of the game's 29 fouls. The Hawks were 15-for-20 from the free throw line (75%) while Stonehill connected on just six of nine attempts.
Isaiah Burnett paced Stonehill with 17 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. Owen Chose put home 14 points while Myles Hanson reeled in a team-leading eight rebounds.
Saint Anselm is now 8-1 since the start of the new calendar year and heads to Queen City rival Southern New Hampshire this Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in a key conference showdown.
