MANCHESTER, NH – Host Saint Anselm held The College of Saint Rose without a field goal throughout the final five minutes of regulation and the entire extra session to hand the Golden Knights an 88-79 overtime setback in what marked the season-finale for both clubs this evening. It also represented the first victory in four overtime encounters this year for the Hawks, while the Golden Knights fell after having winning their previous two OT games this season.

Saint Rose, a tenth seed, will now head to seventh seed Southern New Hampshire for a Northeast-10 Conference Tournament opening round game on Saturday at 2:00 pm. The Golden Knights upended the Penmen 76-72 back on January 10 in Manchester, but Southern New Hampshire is coming off of tonight's impressive 70-62 home victory against second seed UMass Lowell.

As for this evening in Manchester, both clubs drained 28 field goals. However, Saint Anselm (15-12/10-12 NE-10) outscored the Golden Knights 28-15 from the free throw line and rattled off 12 unanswered points during the game's final 3:30 that allowed them to rally from a 78-76 deficit.

Junior guard Jermaine Clark scored a career-high 31 points to lead Saint Rose (11-16/9-13 NE-10). Freshman guard Shea Bromirski tossed in 18 points and rookie forward Brian Hanuschak wound up with a season-high 12 points and five rebounds.

The Golden Knights appeared to be in a good shape on the heels of a 10-0 run that turned a one point, 60-59, lead into an 11 point, 70-59, cushion with 5:43 to go in regulation. Junior forward Malcolm Williams drew contact while putting back an offensive rebound and then buried the ensuring free throw, Hanuschak slammed home a Williams steal, and Clark knocked down a jumper and a trey to account for the spurt.

However, the Hawks chipped away until sophomore forward John Tello delivered a three point play that made it a one point, 73-72, affair with 1:44 remaining in regulation. Bromirski then canned the second of two free throws to push the lead back to a pair, but Saint Anselm freshman guard Hakeem Williams finished inside to deadlock everything at 74-74.

Both teams had an opportunity to end it at that juncture, but neither could get a shot to go down and thus overtime ensued.

In the final period, junior guard Brian Ledbetter and sophomore guard Ben Johnson both buried a pair of free throws in the opening 1:30. Johnson's made it 78-76, but Williams scored in the paint on the other end for the Hawks and junior guard Greg Vetrano nailed a jumper to put them in the lead to stay.

Sophomore guard Thomas Baudinet lived up to his reputation as the league's fourth leading scorer by tossing in a team-high 26 points for Saint Anselm. Tello finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, while junior forward Branimir Zeko added 11 points.

Box Score