Saint Anselm Survives Franklin Pierce, 76-68
Moore's 18 points help Hawks withstand Ravens upset bid
MANCHESTER, N.H. (January 27, 2005) - Saint Anselm College survived a gallant upset bid from Franklin Pierce and collected a 76-68 victory in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium tonight.
Junior Jim Moore (Worcester, Mass.) led five Saint Anselm players in double-figures with 18 points (12 second-half) to go with eight rebounds. Senior Chris Conroy (Kingston, Mass./Silver Lake Regional) added 15 points (12 first half) as he hit five-of-nine from the field, including 4-7 from three-point range, to go with three rebounds and three assists. Junior Jim Holsworth (Bogota, N.J./Bogota) registered 12 points, five assists and three steals. Juniors Darlington Okerulu (Jersey City, N.J./Hudson Catholic) and Matt Cahill (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) each netted 11 points, with Okerulu also posting seven boards.
Freshman Mitchell Johnson (Nassau, Bahamas/Cushing Academy) led Franklin Pierce with a season-best 27 points (18 first half) as he hit 8-of17 from the field and converted all six free-throw attempts. Junior Justin Powell (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) totaled 16 points (14 second-half), while classmate Pierre Sully (Jamaica Plain, Mass./North Cambridge Catholic) added ten points.
Sophomore Darryl Minnifield (Boston, Mass./Brookline) grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds for the Ravens, but no other teammate had more than three boards on the night as Franklin Pierce was out-rebounded 37-25 for the night, resulting in an 11-5 Hawks advantage in second-chance points.
After Conroy opened the second half with a three-pointer to put Saint Anselm up seven (45-38), the Ravens responded with an 11-2 run to take a one-point lead (49-48) after a Powell turnaround with 14:59 to play.
Cahill drained two three's to put the Hawks up by three (54-51) at the 12:37-mark. Saint Anselm's lead was six (66-60) after an Okerulu jumper with 6:04 to play, but the Ravens got back-to-back three's from Powell (first of his career) and sophomore Sean Mayo (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) to knot the score at 66-66 with 3:25 left.
Saint Anselm answered with a Moore three with 3:00 left and he added a driving lay-up to put the Hawks up five (71-66) with 2:06 to play. Franklin Pierce failed to hit a field goal over the final 3:25 to end its hopes of the upset.
Both teams were nearly lights-out from three-point range in the first half as Franklin Pierce connected on 58.3-percent (7-12) of its attempts from long-distance, while Saint Anselm canned 6-of-13 (46.2%) from beyond the arc in the stanza.
The Ravens led by five points (17-12) after a Johnson three seven-minutes into the opening 20-minutes. Freshman Junior Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavarian) canned a three at the 8:32-mark to knot the score at 22-22 and the Hawks took their first lead (29-28) on an Okerulu free throw with 5:38 left in the stanza.
Holsworth hit two from the stripe to put the Hawks up four (39-35) with 1:57 left. After Johnson canned his fourth three of the stanza with 49-seconds left, Holsworth regained the Hawks four-point bulge heading into the locker room with a straightaway three at the buzzer.
Franklin Pierce (6-13, 4-10 NE-10) is back in action on Saturday when it visits Bryant University at 3:30 p.m. Saint Anselm (16-4, 11-4 NE-10) hosts Saint Michael's College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.