Hawks Defeat Chargers 65-54 to Win Program's 10th NE10 Title.
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team won the Northeast-10 Conference postseason championship for the 10th time in program history, thanks to a 65-54 victory over the University of New Haven on Saturday.
The second-seeded Hawks (22-7) took down the No. 4-seeded Chargers (20-10) in front of a sell-out crowd in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium, locking down the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II postseason.
Senior Tyler Arbuckle (Bristol, Conn.) was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, averaging 20 points per game across the three postseason contests for Saint Anselm. On Saturday, he scored 12 points with six assists and five rebounds to help the Hawks to victory.
Senior Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif.) and junior Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) were also recognized on the conference's All-Tournament Team. Tention scored a team-best 24 points on Saturday while Becker handed out eight assists with as many rebounds.
Becker was also feted with the league's prestigious Elite 24 award, issued to the student-athlete at the championship site with the highest grade-point average. He becomes only the second in Saint Anselm history to collect such distinction (Jackie Gaumer '21, field hockey, 2019).
The 2023 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Selection Show is slated to air on Sunday, Mar. 5 at 11 p.m. on NCAA.com. The Hawks were ranked No. 2 in the latest iteration of the official East Region rankings, trailing only Bentley who fell to Saint Anselm in the NE10 Semifinals.
Saint Anselm got off to a hot start early on, outscoring New Haven 21-10 over the first eight minutes. During that stretch, sophomore Zac Taylor (Victoria, Australia) and senior Owen McGlashan (Marlton, N.J.) combined for 13 points to get the home crowd into the game early.
After consecutive Tention three-pointers put the Hawks up by 17 with seven minutes remaining in the opening frame, the Chargers responded with an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to just six points, 31-25, with 3:25 left. Saint Anselm did settle down, scoring 11 of the final 15 points of the second half.
That 11-4 stretch by Saint Anselm was capped off by a three-point play from Tention to put the home team in front by a 42-29 score at halftime.
A strong New Haven defensive unit came out of the locker room for the second half, limiting Saint Anselm to just five points in the first 10-plus minutes of action. The Chargers fired off a 17-5 scoring run in total, keyed by a 6-for-10 shooting performance.
Ahead by just a 47-46 margin at that point, Saint Anselm concluded the game on an 18-8 spurt that saw Tention score seven of his team's 18 points.
New Haven played the foul game with under two minutes left in regulation, which resulted in the Hawks missing the front end of a one-on-one. The Chargers could not muster up anything on the offensive end, and with just over a minute to go, Tention jumped out on the fast break and slammed home a dunk to put the exclamation point on the victory.
The Hawks shot 36% (9-for-25) from beyond the arc and 47% overall, while the Chargers were held to just 37.5% shooting from the field. Despite losing the rebounding battle, 30-29, the Hawks were able to turn the Chargers over 12 times while committing just seven miscues of their own.
Arbuckle, McGlashan, Taylor, and Tention all scored in double figures for Saint Anselm, while Quashawn Lane and Tyrone Perry paced New Haven with a combined 40 points.
-Recap provided by Saint Anselm athletic communications-
Elite 24 Award:
Matt Becker, Saint Anselm
All-Championship Team
Tyler Arbuckle, Saint Anselm*
Miles Tention, Saint Anselm
Matt Becker, Saint Anselm
Quashawn Lane, New Haven
Zach Laput, Bentley
*Most Outstanding Player
NE10 MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
First Round Friday, February 24th:
Game 1: #4 New Haven 69, #13 American International 51
Game 2: #5 So. Connecticut 85, #12 Saint Rose 71
Game 3: #6 Le Moyne 77, #11 Saint Michael's 74
Game 4: #7 Pace 72, #10 Adelphi 51
Game 5: #8 Franklin Pierce 81, #9 Assumption 74
Quarterfinals Sunday, February 26th:
Game 6: #1 So. New Hampshire 58, #8 Franklin Pierce 51
Game 7: #2 Saint Anselm 78, #7 Pace 70
Game 8: #3 Bentley 78, #6 Le Moyne 67
Game 9: #4 New Haven 75, #5 So. Connecticut 59
Semifinals Wednesday, March 1st (at highest remaining seeds):
Game 10: #4 New Haven 59, #1 So. New Hampshire 42
Game 11: #2 Saint Anselm 71, #3 Bentley 70
Championship Saturday, March 4th (at highest remaining seed):
Game 12: #2 Saint Anselm 65, #2 New Haven 54
ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 13 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.
