WALTHAM, Mass. – Competing in the quarterfinal round of the 2022 NCAA Division II East Region Championship, the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team was downed by the University of New Haven on Saturday afternoon, 78-70.
Saint Anselm, the No. 3 seed in the eight-team regional, sees its season come to a close with a 17-11 overall record. No. 6-seeded New Haven, who lost twice to the Hawks during the regular season and the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs, moves on with a record of 18-8.
Saint Anselm has made nine of the last 10 NCAA postseasons (the Hawks did not compete during the 2020-21 campaign), leading all East Region programs. Under Head Coach Keith Dickson, the Hawks have made 21 NCAA tournament appearances since the 1986-87 season and the long-time bench boss concludes his 36th year at Saint Anselm with a 681-353 (.659) overall record.
The outstanding career of senior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) came to an end, scoring 24 points with seven rebounds alongside an 8-for-11 performance from both the floor and the foul line. Adding two assists and two blocks to his career totals, he exits the Hilltop ranked fifth all-time in career point scoring (1,947).
The NE10 First Team All-Conference selection finished with seasonal career-highs in points per game (19.7), assists (103), minutes played per game (36.8) and blocks (18). He departs as one of just three student-athletes in team history with over 700 field goals made (703) and his 815 rebounds places him sixth on the all-time list.
Paul also played over 4,000 career minutes, becoming just the second in team history to reach that milestone (4,388, Tim Guers '19). He averaged 33.5 minutes played per game, the sixth-best figure in team history.
Senior Gustav Suhr-Jessen (Virum, Denmark) also played in his final career game, tying for the team lead in rebounds (seven) with Paul. He concludes a four-season career at Saint Anselm with 1,219 career points (10.2/game) across 120 contests, tying for third all-time alongside Paul in terms of games played on the Hilltop.
Senior Alonzo Jackson (Medford, Mass.) had two shot rejections, taking sole possession of second place in team history with 84 career blocks. He graduates as the all-time leader in team history with 0.977 blocked shots per game.
Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif.) scored 19 points, connecting on five of his 10 shots from beyond the arc, and junior Tyler Arbuckle (Bristol, Conn.) had 15 points for the Hawks. Tention's 37.2 minutes played per game this season is the third-most in a single campaign in team history.
The teams were relatively even across the statistics sheet as New Haven held the slight edge in field goal percentage (42.6%-to-41.5%) and the teams both shot under 39% from three-point land. Rebounds were also somewhat close, 38-to-32 in favor of Saint Anselm, but the Hawks committed 12 of the game's 19 miscues that led to a distinct 16-to-4 advantage for New Haven in points off turnovers.
With the game tied at seven in the first half, the Hawks captured a game-high lead of four points thanks to an 11-5 scoring run that created a 16-12 lead. In that span, Tention and Arbuckle connected on back-to-back three-point baskets to establish the four-point bulge.
New Haven answered with strong play on offense, connecting on eight of its next 16 shots to take a six-point lead, 36-30, with 1:12 to go in the opener. Saint Anselm struggled down the stretch, making just four of its 12 shots from the floor, while New Haven had three student-athletes score six or more points to fuel the run.
Tention opened the second half with a three-point basket to trim the New Haven lead to 38-36, but the Chargers continued to stay out in front. Saint Anselm cut the lead down on several occasions, but never closer than two points. With under 10 minutes to play, the Hawks could not cut the lead to less than four points.
Down by a 63-58 score with 5:02 left after a Tention triple, the Hawks could not close the deficit. New Haven was 3-for-4 from the floor and went to the line 10 times, making eight free throws to create what would turn into a game-high lead of 14 points, 77-63, with 1:12 left in regulation time.
New Haven finished with a 25-for-32 (78.1%) performance from the free throw line while the Hawks were just behind, connecting on 18-of-25 (72.0%) of their attempts from the charity stripe. Saint Anselm was whistled for 25 of the game's 43 fouls.
Quashawn Lane led New Haven with 19 points. Majur Majak ended with a team-best nine rebounds for the Chargers, who also received 18 points off the bench from Tavin Pierre Phillippe.
