Saint Anselm Claims 2018-19 Men's & Women's NCAA Regional Championships

Posted: Jan 20, 2021

It was (literally) a banner year for the Saint Anselm College men's and women's basketball programs in 2019. Both squads claimed NCAA Division II East Region Championships that year, becoming the first East/Northeast region institution to proudly raise regional championship banners in both sports to conclude a season.

Making it to the Northeast-10 Conference semifinals in 2019, the Saint Anselm women's team earned an at-large bid to the East Region Championship as the No. 7 seed. The Hawks toppled three higher-seeded teams en route to the program's first-ever regional title despite entering NCAA play with a 0-6 record against those teams that season.

As the top-ranked team in the East Region to conclude the season, the Hawks men hosted a regional championship in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium for the first time in program history. Playing in front of the home crowd, Saint Anselm tripped up Molloy, New Haven and Saint Thomas Aquinas in a span of four days to win the team's second East Region title.

Despite the rich tradition of basketball success in East or Northeast Region men's and women's play, no other college or university in those regions has sent both of its hoops squads to the Elite Eight in the same academic year.

The Hawks women's team opened the 2018-19 campaign as winners of 10 of their first 12 games and entered the NE10 postseason ranked seventh in the first NCAA Division II East Region rankings. Saint Anselm, the third seed in the NE10 playoffs, headed to Adelphi, the second seed, and captured an 85-81 victory before falling to nationally-ranked Bentley just days later.

Saint Anselm was ticketed to play the very same Falcons program in the First Round of NCAA play, but the Hawks overwhelmed Bentley in the first 20 minutes of play. Limiting the Falcons to only eight first-half points, Saint Anselm earned its first NCAA postseason victory since Mar. 4, 1999, a 59-51 win over Franklin Pierce in Waltham, Mass. in the quarterfinal round.

The next game saw Saint Anselm battle Stonehill, the reigning East Region title-holders. With the score tied at 46 in the game's last 3:38, the Hawks used an 11-0 run to lock down a victory over the Skyhawks. The Hawks won their 21st game of the season and earned a berth in the East Region title bout, accomplishing both for the first time since the 1994-95 season.

The Hawks were slated to play Le Moyne in the East Region Championship. The Dolphins had just notched a come-from-behind win over the host USciences squad, but under the guidance of Head Coach Corey Boilard, Saint Anselm was able to pull out the East Region title game victory with clutch free-throw shooting in the game's final two minutes.

Then-sophomore Peyton Steinman (Pittsfield, Mass.) and Shannon Ryan '20 each scored 19 points with the former going 12-for-12 from the charity stripe en route to the victory. Ryan was an impressive 7-for-13 from the floor, pulling down seven boards to lead Saint Anselm. The duo were named to the NCAA East Region All-Tournament team for their performances.

Taking on nationally-ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State University in the national quarterfinals, Saint Anselm fell by a 71-61 margin. The Hawks kept one of the nation's strongest three-point offenses to only six made three-point field goals beyond the arc and outrebounded the Bulldogs by a 52-to-35 margin, but 19 steals by Southwestern Oklahoma State fueled the 10-point victory.

Saint Anselm finished the year limiting its opponents to a program-record 35.3% field goal percentage and a 25.7% performance beyond the arc. The team's 1,425 rebounds on the year was a new team record and the squad's rebounding average of 44.5 is the second-best figure in team annals.

Ryan, who capped a strong season for Saint Anselm with an 18-point, 13-rebound performance against the Bulldogs, concluded her year with 592 points scored, the second-most in a season by any Saint Anselm student-athlete, and her 385 rebounds on the year shattered the previous single-season record of 344, set by Andrea Sunday '95 in 1994-95.

The Saint Anselm men's basketball team opened its season with 10 consecutive victories and entered NE10 postseason play with a dominant 22-4 overall record. In fact, Saint Anselm had locked down 18 wins against league opponents, tying a team record and winning yet another NE10 regular-season title under Head Coach Keith Dickson.

The top-seeded Hawks program, who ranked as high as No. 4 in NCAA Division II during the season, saw its momentum slowed by Southern Connecticut State, who pushed past Saint Anselm in the NE10 quarterfinals. The impressive body of work for the Hawks to that point, however, was not overlooked by the NCAA committee, and Saint Anselm earned the right to host the East Region playoffs.

With Stoutenburgh Gymnasium hosting its first NCAA East Region Championship, then-sophomore Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) scored 23 points and Tim Guers '19 hauled in a season-high 15 rebounds to push Saint Anselm past Molloy in the opener, 81-71. Down by three points shortly into the second half, the Hawks took the lead for good with an 11-2 scoring run that was capped by a Paul layup in the paint with 14:30 to go.

Against New Haven in the East Region semifinals, Saint Anselm eked out a 70-69 victory against its NE10 conference rival. With the Hawks ahead by three points in the last 36 seconds, New Haven made two free throws just seconds later. After free throw misses by Saint Anselm, the Chargers missed their final three field goals with the final one rejected by a Guers block as time expired.

After two relatively close games heading into the East Region Championship, Saint Anselm logged its largest-ever NCAA postseason margin of victory against Saint Thomas Aquinas. Winning by a 74-49 margin, the Hawks saw Guers earn East Region Most Outstanding Player honors, averaging 17 points and 9.7 rebounds per game across the three contests.

Playing in the national championship for the first time since the 1999-00 season, Saint Anselm earned its first-ever Elite Eight victory by taking down No. 5-ranked Nova Southeastern, 91-81. The first East Region institution to secure an Elite Eight victory since 2012, Saint Anselm made 16 three-point baskets against the Sharks, which stands to this day as the second-most in any Elite Eight game.

The magical Hawks season came to an end in the national semifinals as Saint Anselm fell to top-ranked, top-seeded and undefeated Northwest Missouri State University by a 76-53 score. Guers capped a historic career in the contest, finishing as the program's all-time leader in point scoring (2,327), field goals made (799), defensive rebounds (657) and minutes played (4,388).

Saint Anselm Baskeball Links of Note:

ABOUT THE NE10
Beginning its 40th anniversary season, the NE10 is an association of 14 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.

Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.