Matt Cahill |
Chris Conroy |
Jim Holsworth |
Jim Moore |
Darlington Okerulu |
The Game: Thursday’s game matches Saint Anselm against the Golden Knights from The College of Saint Rose in a Northeast-10 Conference semifinal round game at Nolan Gymnasium.
The game can be heard live over the internet on the Northeast-10 Website.
Students and fans of the Hawks who would like to attend the game can reserve tickets up until 11:30 AM Thursday morning by going to the Athletic Department in the Carr Center. There is also a student bus making the trip on a first come, first serve basis.
Both teams eanred the right to play on in the tournament with two-point victories. Saint Anselm used a baseline fade away at the buzzer from Jim Moore to knock off Bryant, 81-79 in overtime while Saint Rose used a floater and a career-high 21 points from Terrence King to egde 10th-seeded Merrimack .
The winner will face the winner of Bentley vs. Southern N.H. on Saturday for the conference championship, held at the highest seed.
History: Saint Rose holds a 8-5 edge in the all-time series that has seen the home team dominate. The home team has won the last 10 contests with Saint Rose rattling off six straight at its various home courts including a nail-biter two weeks ago. The last Saint Anselm victory in Albany , N.Y. came on November 22, 1994 (87-84).
Last Meeting: On February 19, Adonist Barber’s running layup as time expired in overtime lifted Saint Rose past the Hawks. Saint Anselm had a five-point lead with 11 seconds left in regulation before Brad Shove hit a 3-pointer and Shanty Robinson converted a layup as time expired in overtime to send the game into extra time. Shove led the way for Saint Rose with 21 points all of them coming on 3-pointers while Barber and Robinson both recorded “double-doubles” as the Knights won the battle of the boards, 51-40. Jim Holsworth led Saint Anselm with a game-high 22 points on 6-for-14 shooting from deep to go with four assists. Matt Cahill had 20 (6-6 FT) and Moore finished with 18 points and 10 boards for the Hawks who stayed in the game despite shooting under 38-percent.
The Matchup: Although their meeting 13 days ago did not materialize to be a high-scoring affair, the numbers point to fast-paced action for Thursday night. This will be a meeting of two of the top three scoring teams in the league with Saint Anselm averaging 80.1 points and Saint Rose close behind at 79.7. The Golden Knights held Saint anselm to just 13 free throw attempts in the season’s first meeting, nine fewer than the Hawks average this season and will look to avoid shooting fouls again as the Hawks have led the nation in free throw shooting most of the season. The Hawks, also the league’s best 3-point shooting club, have hit 38 treys over their last three games at a .437 clip. Saint Rose has been one of the top 3-point defensive clubs in the league, allowing just a .334 mark. The Golden Knights also lead the league in turnover margin, thanks to averaging second in forced turnovers (19.7). They will have to disrupt a Hawk team that commits the fewest turnovers in the league at just 12.9 per game.
Regional Rankings: The NCAA’s regional rankings are as follows: #1 Bentley, #2 Adelphi, #3 Saint Anselm, #4 Southern N.H., #5 Saint Rose, #6 Queens, #7 Stonehill, #8 Bryant, #9 UMass Lowell, #10 Bridgeport. No team from the CACC is currently ranked but their conference champion will get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, along with the league champions of the NE-10 and NYCAC, along with the next five highest-ranked schools. The next regional ranking will be released this Wednesday night (March 2).
Did You Say Nine Times?: Last Monday versus Pace, Chris Conroy drained a career-high nine 3-pointers for a career-high tying 27 points in the 90-67 win. The mark ties Bob Timinski, ‘94 for the second best single mark, just one behind former coach and player Sean Ryan, ‘96. He also added a career-high tying six assists in the game.
More Conroy: His 64 made triples represent a season-high for Conroy, whose previous high was 61 last season. He currently has 229 3-pointers in his career, the sixth most in school history. His .459 career 3-point percentage is second best all-time behind Timinski’s .472 mark. Conroy needs just two points to become the 40th member of the school’s 1,000-point club.
Four Moore: Moore, who earlier this season became the 39th member of the school’s 1,000-point club, is four points shy of tallying his 1,000th in a Saint Anselm uniform and would become just the second play in school history to reach that mark in his second year at the College (Teammate Matt Cahill accomplished the feat as a sophomore). Moore scored 209 points during his freshman year at Youngstown State and enters Thursday with 996 as a Hawk for a total of 1,205 career points.
Last Time Out: Monday against Bryant, Moore ’s jumper gave the junior forward hsi fourth straight “double-double” with 27 points (10-21 FG) and 12 rebounds. Cahill put on a shooting clinic in the first half with 17 of his 20 points, and Holsworth capped a big night with a pair of late free throws and a long 3-pointer in front of his bench to tie the game in overtime. Holsworth and Cahill also tied career highs in steals with Holsworth recording five swipes and Cahill three. By the time the smoke cleared from a classic NE-10 showdown, the Hawks had shot 51-percent overall including an 11-for-15 mark from deep (.733).
Beat The Buzzer: Monday night’s game against Bryant featured a buzzer-beating shot at the end of each peroid. Bryant’s John Williams beat the clock with a running 3-pointer at the end of the first half and sent the game into overtime with a 3-pointer with two seconds left on the clock as part of his career-high 37-point effort before Moore ’s heroics.
Back To Basics: With 21 wins, the Hawks have equaled a mark last set during the 2000-01 season when they went 21-7 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Saint Anselm has now posted nine 20-win season since 1985-86 with seven of those coming since the 1992-93 season.
Thirty Somethings: This Saint Anselm team features three players who have scored at least 30 points in a college game. Holsworth (30), and Moore (32) have accomplished their career-bests this season while Cahill has hit that mark six times in his career. Conroy and Darlington Okerulu have also come close to that mark with Conroy owning three 27-point performances and Okerulu registering 28 points in a game once.
Moving On Up: Cahill, the only player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark in his sophomore year, entered this season in 38th place on the school’s all-time points list (1,004). Through 28 games, he has already jumped over 29 different former players (13 Hall of Famers) into ninth place with 1,467 points. Next on the list of the school’s top scorers is John Freiermuth, ‘92, who stands comfortably in eighth place at 1,544.
Shoot To Thrill: So far this season the Hawks lead the nation in free throw shooting at .812. They also ranked first in the NE-10 in 3-point shooting (.402) and third in overall field goal shooting at .471 overall. Saint Anselm is the only team in the NE-10 to have three players rank among the top 10 free throw shooters. Moore is an .864 shooter, Holsworth .840 and Cahill .829 this season. The trio have combined to shoot 334-394 (.848). Meanwhile, Conroy has been getting it done from deep with the senior leading the league in 3-point shooting at .467 (64-137).
Just The Stats, Please: The Hawks rank first in the NE-10 with a +11.5 point differential and in points per game (80.1), second in rebounding margin (+2.6), and are second in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.21). They also commit the fewest turnovers per game at 12.9.
Several players also rank highly among the NE-10’s leaders including three of the league’s top 10 scorers; (Cahill 16.5 ppg/ 8th; .829 FT%/ 8th); Moore (19.1 ppg/ 3rd; .864 FT%/ 2nd; 6.8 rpg/ 13th); Holsworth (14.5 ppg/ 15th; 4.7 apg/ 4th; 2.0 spg/ 6th; .840 FT%/ 7th; .440 3-PT%/ 4th); Okerulu (7.8 rpg/ 6th); Conroy (.467 3-PT FG %/ 1st).
Riled Up: Senior big man Ryan Reilly has been an important presence off the bench this season for the Hawks. He leads the team in field goal shooting at .698 (60-86), a mark that is on pace to be the best single season number in school history should he have enough attempts. (minimum 100)
Showing His Worth: Holsworth is one of only two players in the Northeast-10 top rank among the league’s leaders in points, assists, steals, free throw shooting, and 3-point shooting. The other is Bentley’s Tim Forbes.
The Marks: Over the past year plus this season, the Hawks’ magic number has been 80. The team is 28-4 when it reaches that mark compared to 11-13 when failing to do so. However, the Hawks are 10-4 this season when scoring fewer than 80 points. The Hawks are also 21-3 when making at least 10 3-pointers. Further, the team is 22-2 when holding opposing teams to 70 or fewer points.
Northeast-10: The Northeast-10 Conference continues to assert itself as one of the top conferences in the country and currently features nine different teams with a .500 or better winning percentage. As a whole, the league is 47-18 in non-conference games against Division II foes (.723) while the top 10 teams in the NE-10 are 42-10 (.808) against teams from other leagues.
Saint Rose: The Golden Knights are led by Shove, who averages 15.5 points per game. he has launched 203 3-point attempts this season, shooting at a .394 clip. he is also a solid free throw shooter with an .862 mark. Barber does most of his damage inside where he averages 13.8 points on 55-percent shooting while Robinson shoots better than 61-percent from inside. Barber leads the team in rebounding at 7.5 per game.