GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Junior
Sean McCarthy (Cork, Ireland) matched his season-high with 26 points, including 18 in the second half, and the seventh-seeded Saint Anselm College men's basketball team defeated second-seeded Adelphi University on the road in the Northeast-10 Championship Quarterfinal round on Sunday. With the win, the Hawks have secured a spot in the conference tournament's Semifinals for the fourth straight season. With a 19-point performance, Arbuckle climbed to eighth on the program's all-time scoring list and now has 1,798 points in his career.
UP NEXT:
- Saint Anselm will travel to New Haven, Conn. to take on No. 6 Southern Connecticut State for the NE10 Championship Semifinals on Wednesday, March 6th at 7:00 p.m.
Score: Saint Anselm 80, Adelphi 71
Records: Saint Anselm 16-14 (14-10 NE10), Adelphi 18-11 (14-9 NE10)
Location: Garden City, N.Y. (Center for Recreation and Sports)
Date: Sunday, March 3, 2024
Attendance: 477
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- It was a slow start to the game offensively with Saint Anselm and Adelphi combining to miss their first 16 three-point attempts. Six minutes in, the Hawks had just two points on up on the scoreboard and the Panthers held an 8-2 lead.
- McCarthy started to get hot midway through the first half. The junior got to the rim and finished off three consecutive driving layups to give Saint Anselm a 12-10 lead, their first of the game.
- After Adelphi tied it back up, junior Zac Taylor (Victoria, Australia) knocked down the first three of the game from either side to put the Hawks ahead, 15-12. The junior forward finished a layup on the next offensive trip to help his team maintain their three-point advantage and force a timeout by the Panthers.
- Sophomore Josh Morissette (Exeter, N.H.) and fifth-year Tyler Arbuckle (Bristol, Conn.) each scored from inside the paint, but five quick points by Matthew Price helped Adelphi tie it once again, 21-21, with 4:55 left in the first half.
- Saint Anselm held Adelphi to just two points for the remainder of the half and led by six points, 29-23, at the break. Taylor got two more close-range buckets to fall and McCarthy finished off a layup after an excellent feed from Arbuckle just before halftime.
- McCarthy continued to make his way inside and dropped in another pair of scores in the paint to open up the second half. Saint Anselm led by seven points, 33-26, as a result, but the threes started to fall for Adelphi after that. Walton knocked down two and Andrew Delaney cashed in from long range for the Panthers, who cut the deficit to just one point.
- A Delaney layup with 14:37 left in the game helped the Panthers regain the lead for the first time since the first half, but McCarthy answered with another layup at the rim to make it 38-37, Hawks.
- The teams traded the lead for the next couple of minutes. Adelphi took a three-point advantage, but field goals by McCarthy and Taylor helped put Saint Anselm back in front, 43-42, with 11:44 to play.
- Senior Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) then got in on the scoring with his first points of the day for the Hawks before McCarthy grabbed a defensive rebound and took it the other way for two more. That put Saint Anselm up by five and forced another timeout by Adelphi at the midway point of the second half.
- After the timeout, the Panthers countered with an 8-2 scoring run to regain the lead, 54-53. Elijah Lewis drained a triple and Walton scored an and-one at the cup for Adelphi during that stretch.
- Taylor then put the Hawks back on top with another layup, but Lewis splashed in his second consecutive three. A layup by Mason Jackson put the Panthers ahead by four points the next time down the floor, making it 61-57 and forcing a Hawks timeout with 6:31 to go.
- Needing an answer, Saint Anselm stepped up on both ends and went on an 11-3 surge to take back the lead. Taylor knocked down another triple out of the timeout, and back-to-back layups by McCarthy tied the score, 64-64.
- Arbuckle took over the game and let his championship experience show down the stretch, scoring 13 points in the final 4:20 for the Hawks. The fifth-year buried a midrange jumper and finished a contested layup on the following possession. With two minutes to go, Arbuckle made another shot in the paint before drilling a step-back three to blow the game open and give Saint Anselm a 73-66 lead with 1:38 left.
- Adelphi attempted to play the foul game late, but Saint Anselm made five out of six at the line including four in a row made by Arbuckle. The Panthers could not make any threes late and the Hawks held on for the win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Saint Anselm had an above average day in terms of field goal percentage by going 35 of 64 from the floor (54.7%), including a smoldering 21 of 31 (67.7%) in the second half. Adelphi went 27 of 67 (40.3%) from the field. Both teams had trouble from long distance with the Hawks making just three of 15 on three-pointers (20.0%) and the Panthers going seven of 33 (21.2%) from deep.
- Adelphi went 10 for 16 (62.5%) and Saint Anselm shot seven for 11 (63.6%) at the free throw line.
- The rebounding battle was tight with the Panthers holding a 38-37 advantage on the glass. Adelphi also grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, but were outscored by Saint Anselm, 58-40, in the paint.
- Adelphi also held a 9-6 edge in fastbreak points and their bench outscored Saint Anselm's, 15-0. The game consisted of seven ties and 15 lead changes.
- Both sides took good care of the basketball with the Panthers committing just nine turnovers compared to seven committed by the Hawks. Saint Anselm had six steals while Adelphi had just one to go along with two blocks.
- McCarthy led Saint Anselm with a game-high 26 points (13-16 FG) and grabbed seven rebounds.Taylor added 20 points (9-12 FG, 2-5 3PT) and seven rebounds while Arbuckle finished with 19 points (7-21 FG, 1-6 3PT, 4-4 FT) including 13 in the final five minutes, to go along with six assists and five boards.
- Morissette had a relatively quiet afternoon scoring with just nine points (4-11 FG, 0-4 3PT, 1-2 FT), but contributed with seven rebounds and three steals. Becker scored six points (2-3 FG, 2-3 FT) and brought down a game-high nine rebounds for the Hawks.
- Walton finished with 23 points and Lewis had 16 to lead Adelphi.
- This marked the 40th all-time meeting between these two programs. Saint Anselm improves to 24-16 overall against Adelphi.
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