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PREVIEW: Men's basketball, New Haven to tangle in NCAA East Region Quarterfinals

3/11/2022 1:20:00 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team will take on the University of New Haven in the Quarterfinals round of the NCAA Division II East Region Championship. The game will tip at high noon on Saturday, Mar. 12 on the campus of Bentley University.

No. 3-seed SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE HAWKS (17-10, 11-8 NE10)
Roster | Schedule and Results | 2021-22 Statistics | News

No. 6-seed UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN CHARGERS (17-8, 13-6 NE10)
Roster | Schedule and Results | 2021-22 Statistics | News

Riding a streak of eight consecutive postseason berths prior to the pandemic, Saint Anselm has earned yet another NCAA tournament appearance upon the team's return to the court in 2021-22. The Hawks have recorded a 17-10 overall record this season and enter the eight-team regional as the No. 3 seed, trailing only top-seed Bentley and second-seeded Franklin Pierce. 

During the regular season, the Hawks came away with a 67-60 victory over New Haven on Wednesday, Jan. 19. In the NE10 Quarterfinals on Monday, Feb. 28, the Hawks claimed an 81-79 overtime victory in West Haven as senior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) scored a career-high 40 points against the Chargers.

The eight regional champions will advance to the quarterfinals in conjunction with the 2022 NCAA Division II Men's Elite Eight. The quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games will be conducted at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. starting on Tuesday, Mar. 22.

Live Statistics and Live Video are provided by the hosts at Bentley.

Tickets can be purchased ahead of the game (or at the door) for $8.00 (adults) or $5.00 for children, students and senior citizens. Masks are optional in the Dana Center, but recommended by Bentley University. All spectators will be required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test administered within the past 72 hours. 

Saturday's quarterfinal games will be conducted in two sessions which require separate admission to each session. A ticket purchased for the New Haven and Saint Anselm game will be valid for the second contest to follow, but the facility will be cleared in between the second and third games of the afternoon.

For more information about the East Region Championship hosted by Bentley, check out the official tournament website.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM
  • Saint Anselm, entering play with a 17-10 overall record, was downed by nationally-ranked Bentley in the NE10 Semifinals last time out.
  • The Hawks are 12th in NCAA Division II in defensive rebounds per game (28.81), trailing only Bentley (29.92) for the NE10 lead.
  • The Hawks commit just 14.9 personal fouls per game, ranking fifth in the NE10 and 47th across all 294 men's basketball-playing schools in NCAA Division II.
  • The Hawks have won each of their last five overtime games dating back to Nov. 17, 2018 at Jefferson. Three of those five games have taken place on the road, including the NE10 postseason overtime win against New Haven two games ago.
  • 10 of the team's prior overtime games have been played on the road or at neutral sites. Saint Anselm enjoys a six-game overtime winning streak at home.
  • The Hawks won a program-record four NCAA postseason games from Mar. 16, 2019 through Mar. 19, 2019, winning each of the three East Region games before taking down No. 4/5 Nova Southeastern in the Elite Eight. Saint Anselm was previously winless in the Elite Eight before defeating the Sharks.
  • The Hawks are 5-3 combined against the eight-team East Region field in team history. Saint Anselm has played Saint Thomas Aquinas three times, Bentley twice and New Haven twice. The Hawks have played Franklin Pierce once.
  • The Hawks claimed the 2019-20 Northeast-10 Conference Championship, defeating New Haven by a 65-63 margin in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium on Saturday, Mar. 7. With that victory, the Hawks won their ninth NE10 postseason title - Saint Anselm has claimed far and away the most league championships among conference institutions.
  • Saint Anselm most recently won the East Region Championship in 2019 under Head Coach Keith Dickson and made it all the way to the Final Four that season. The Hawks won their first regional title in 1999-00 en route to the Elite Eight and have qualified for the postseason 21 times under Dickson's watch.
  • Saint Anselm entered the season just one student-athlete down from its 2020-21 roster, a season that saw the Northeast-10 Conference cancel its winter sports season due to the global pandemic. The Hawks returned four of their five starters from its 2019-20 season, a campaign that ended with a 21-8 record.
  • The Hawks were looking to defend their 2019 NCAA Division II East Region Championship prior to the 2020 championship's cancellation. In 2019, Saint Anselm made its first Elite Eight appearance since the 1999-00 season, as the Hawks toppled fifth-ranked Nova Southeastern en route to the program's first-ever trip to the Final Four.
  • Named to the D2CCA East Region Second Team on Friday, Chris Paul leads Saint Anselm with 19.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Shooting north of 50% from the floor (190-for-379), he leads the team with 140 free throws made on 192 attempts (72.9%). He is just one shy of the team lead with 30 steals and eight away from topping the Hawks blocks list with 16 to his credit.
  • Paul leads the NE10 in free throws made (140) and free throw attempts (192). He ranks second in the NE10 in minutes played (991:16), third in field goals made (190), third in total points (528) and fifth in points per game (19.6). His 50.1% field goal percentage is the fifth-best total in the NE10.
  • Paul was named to the Northeast-10 Conference's All-Tournament Team on Sunday, averaging 24.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 31-for-56 (55.3%) from the floor across the three games. Previously, Paul was the Most Outstanding Player of the NE10 postseason in 2020.
  • Opening play against Southern Connecticut State at home, Paul scored 14 points on six-of-eight shooting and logged 10 rebounds alongside four steals. At New Haven on Feb. 28, Paul dropped 24 points in the first half and ended the overtime affair with the game-winning basket with two seconds left in extra time. He finished with a career-high 40 points and added team-leading totals in rebounds (seven), assists (six), steals (four) and blocks (one).
  • Versus Bentley, Paul poured home 20 points and played in over 30 minutes for the 15th consecutive game. He did not come off the floor against New Haven in the overtime thriller.
  • Paul was the only selection to the five-member All-Tournament Team that did not participate in the final game (Bentley, Franklin Pierce).
  • Miles Tention is producing 13.9 points per game for Saint Anselm, earning Second Team All-NE10 honors following the season. Tention leads all NE10 student-athletes with 1,010 minutes played this season, ranking 45th in NCAA Division II overall.
  • Tention is third in the NE10 in minutes per game (37:27) and ninth overall among NCAA Division II student-athletes. He checks in with the second-best three-point field goal percentage (41.0%) in the NE10, connecting on 73 of his 178 triples this season.
  • From the free throw line, Tention is shooting 82.6% by making 38 of his 46 attempts at the charity stripe.
  • Gustav Suhr-Jessen ranks 10th in the NE10 in rebounds per game (6.6), also contributing 10.5 points per game across his 27 games for the Hawks. Across 27 games for the Hawks, Suhr-Jessen has poured home 10.5 points per game, adding 6.6 rebounds for Saint Anselm.
  • Tyler Arbuckle missed the first seven games of the season due to injury, returning to action for his team's next 20 games. He has produced 12.7 points per game for the Hawks, dishing out 71 assists (3.55/game).
  • Owen McGlashan has started each of the last eight games for Saint Anselm leading up to the NCAA postseason, posting 7.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game since entering the starting lineup. He is 14-for-28 from distance (50.0%) and is shooting 47.5% from the floor (19-for-40) in that span as well.
  • Matt Becker has played in 16 games as a sophomore rookie for the Hawks, logging 6.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in limited action due to injury.
  • Matt Relihan has appeared in all but one game on the season off the bench, earning 11 starts for the Hawks on the year. He has scored exactly 100 points (3.8/game) across those games and, as a starter early in the year, he helped Saint Anselm to a 7-4 record with exactly five points per game.
  • Alonzo Jackson has delivered 0.89 blocked shots per game this season, ranking ninth in the NE10. His 24 blocks place him ninth overall in the league.
SCOUTING NEW HAVEN
  • New Haven advanced to the NE10 quarterfinals automatically via a "No Contest" declaration. The team was slated to play the Northeast's seventh-seed in Saint Michael's but the contest was canceled due to conference and institutional health and safety protocols.
  • The Chargers are 17-8 overall and closed their NE10 slate at 13-6, earning them the second seed in the Southwest Division.
  • The team opened the season with a 3-3 mark before winning four straight to close out 2021. After going 4-4 in January, the Chargers won their final six regular season games, pushing their mark to 16-7 entering the NE10 postseason.
  • Four Chargers are averaging 13.0 points per game or more as Davontrey Thomas and Tavin Pierre Philippe both lead the team with an average of 13.7 points per contest.
  • Thomas is averaging 2.04 three-point field goals per game, ranking 11th in the NE10.
  • Quashawn Lane and Derrick Rowland are averaging 13.3 and 13.2 points per game, respectively.
  • Majur Malak ranks fourth in the NE10 in rebounds per game, averaging a team-high 8.3 boards per tilt.
  • New Haven defensively leads the conference in points allowed per game (63.4), opponents' field goal percentage (39.7), and opponents' three-point percentage (29.6). All of these metrics place the Chargers within the top-15 of NCAA Division II.
  • The Chargers are third in the conference in field goal percentage (46.7), fourth in defensive rebounds per game (28.36), and commit the third fewest fouls (13.5). The team is second in blocks per game at 4.4.
ALL-TIME vs. NEW HAVEN
  • Saturday's NCAA postseason meeting between New Haven and Saint Anselm is the 30th meeting in the all-time series. The Hawks enjoy a 20-9 record against the Chargers.
  • Saint Anselm has won eight of the last nine games against New Haven, including a 2-0 record over the Chargers during the 2021-22 season. 
  • In NE10 postseason play, the Hawks and Chargers have met three times, with New Haven winning on Mar. 5, 2014 in the NE10 Semifinals. The second meeting was the 2020 NE10 Championship, which went the Hawks way as well. The Hawks most recently claimed an overtime win this season in the NE10 Quarterfinals.
  • In NCAA postseason play, the programs have met twice with the Hawks holding a 2-0 edge in those matchups.
  • On the way to the 2019 NCAA Division II East Region Championship, Saint Anselm knocked off New Haven by a 70-69 margin in the regional semifinals.  The Chargers had three shots with under 13 seconds left, but could not find the bottom of the net.
  • Competing in the consolation game of the 1987 NCAA Division II regionals, the Hawks came away with a 94-88 victory over the Chargers on Mar. 7. Joe Smith '89 and Mark deBarros '87 scored 14 points each for the Hawks while Herb Watkins, a two-time All-America pick, logged 30 points for New Haven.
ALL-TIME, NCAA POSTSEASON
  • Saint Anselm owns an 18-26 (.409) record all-time in NCAA postseason play. In total, the Hawks have won two regional titles (1999-00, 2018-19) and picked up their first Elite Eight victory in 2019 against No. 4/5 Nova Southeastern.
  • The Hawks played their first NCAA postseason game against Le Moyne in 1960, defeating the Dolphins in Winooski, Vt. by an 88-75 margin. Saint Anselm fell to the hosts from Saint Michael's in the regional championship, 99-95.
  • Saint Anselm hosted a regional championship for the first time in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in 2019. Historically, the Hawks were not able to host an on-campus regional due to prior NCAA legislation that established a minimum attendance capacity.
TEAM HISTORY
  • One of the most successful programs at Saint Anselm since its varsity-level inception in 1934-35, the Hawks have won over 1,200 games and own a 59.3% winning percentage (1,224-838).
  • Al Grenert joined the Hawks as head coach in 1949 and piloted the squad for 22 years. 23 of his student-athletes have been inducted alongside Grenert in the Athletics Hall of Fame and Saint Anselm registered a 304-171 (.640) overall record in his time at the helm.
  • Dickson was hired as the 11th coach in team history prior to the 1986-87 season, taking over for Bob Brown who would later coach at NCAA Division I Boston University. 
  • Brown (and Dickson, his assistant coach) led the Hawks to a 21-9 record in 1986-87 which was their first 20-plus win campaign since the 1950-51 season. The very next season, Dickson took the reins and won a program-record 25 games in his first year.
  • One of the top teams was the 1995-96 men's basketball team, racking up a dominant 28-3 record and a perfect 16-0 mark against NE10 opponents which, to date, has not happened again.
  • Five student-athletes have earned NABC All-America honors,
  • The Hawks trail only Bentley (39) for NE10 postseason appearances with 38 in the team's 39 seasons of competition in the conference. Saint Anselm is the far-and-away leader in NE10 postseason winning percentage (56-31, .644) and has won a league-leading nine titles.
  • Saint Anselm has made it to the NE10 Semifinals on 25 occasions, more than six times more than the second-place team, and has played in the NE10 title game on 14 occasions, settling for a league runner-up placement just five times.
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