AMHERST, N.Y. – The No. 3-seeded Saint Anselm College men's basketball team won its sixth game in a row, defeating the No. 2-seeded Felician University at Lumsden Gymnasium on the campus of Daemen University, 99-77, in the Second Round of the NCAA Division II Championship to clinch its spot in the East Region Championship.
Highlights
- Saint Anselm improves to 20-29 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, this being the Hawks' 27th trip, and their first second-round win since 2019, when they won the East region.
- Saint Anselm improves to 3-3 all-time against Felician in a series that began in 2002, as this was the Hawks' and Golden Falcons first-ever meeting in the NCAA tournament.
- This is the fourth time the Hawks have eclipsed 25 wins (25-7) in a single season in program history and the first 25+ win season since they won 26 in 2018-19.
- Freshman Edward Onyia had a double-double for the second day in a row, this time recording 25 points and 14 rebounds, both career-highs, as he shot 10-13 from the field, 2-4 from three, and 3-3 from the line with two assists. In five starts this season, Onyia is averaging 16.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
- Sophomore Greg Guidinger had a career day, scoring a career-high 15 points in just 14 minutes off the bench, shooting 5-7 from the field and 4-5 from deep to go with three assists, two rebounds, and a block.
- Senior Josh Morissette continues to add to his single-season program record of three-pointers in a season (114), knocking down four more today.
- Morissette scored 23 points, tallying at least 23 for the sixth straight game, also grabbing two rebounds with two assists and two blocked shots.
- Junior Jack Medalie scored 19 points on an efficient 8-12 shooting day, corralling five boards while dishing out four assists with one steal.
- Sophomore Will Davies had 11 points, a game-high eight assists, two blocks, and a steal.
- Sophomore Paulius Rapolis led all rebounders with 11 boards and a block in 24 minutes.
- The Hawks finished with 50/40/90 splits as a team, going 34-66 (51.5%) from the floor, 12-27 (44.4%) from long range, and 19-20 (95%) from the free throw line.
How it Happened
It was a back-and-forth contest early, with 10 lead changes in the first nine minutes of action until sophomore
Greg Guidinger checked in off the bench, knocking down back-to-back threes to put Saint Anselm up five, 21-16.
Felician quickly regained the lead, 22-21, but Morissette and Onyia kept making shots for the Hawks as Saint Anselm led 43-35 late. Morissette capped off the half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, as the Hawks went into the break up nine, 46-37.
The Golden Falcons came out of the locker room on fire from deep, knocking down four of five three-point attempts to trim their deficit to four, 55-51. Morissette halted the run, getting fouled on a three and converting on all three free throw attempts, followed by a layup from Onyia after a nice feed from Davies to go back up by nine, 60-51.
Medalie made it a 7-0 run with a layup to go up 11, 62-51, and after a pull-up jumper by Felician made it 62-53, an Onyia three-pointer pushed the lead back to 12 and the Hawks led by double-digits for the remainder of the game.
Saint Anselm couldn't miss down the stretch, going up by as much as 23 points, as the Hawks walked out of the Round of 32 with a 99-77 win over Felician.
Up Next
The three-seeded Saint Anselm men's basketball team (25-7, 14-4 NE10) will play in the East Region Championship in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship, taking on the winner of No. 1 Daemen University and No. 5 Saint Michael's College at Lumsden Gymnasium on Tuesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in Amherst, N.Y.
For the latest on
Saint Anselm College Athletics, follow the Hawks on social media on
X,
Instagram, and
Facebook. Be sure to catch all of the
Saint Anselm Athletics action by subscribing to FloCollege.
