ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose men's basketball team overcame a brief second half deficit with a late run to take an 81-73 win over Dominican College to conclude day one of the NE-10 Challenge presented by Hilton Garden Inn-Albany Medical Center. The Golden Knights (1-0) thus won their second straight home-opener as all five starters finished in double-figures scoring.

Sophomore guard Andre Pope and junior forward Brian Hanuschak paced Saint Rose. Pope led all players with 21 points, while Hanuschak had a “double-double” behind 19 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Rob Gutierrez added 14 points, while junior forward Sheldon Griffin and junior guard Shea Bromirski contributed 11 and 10 points respectively.

The Chargers (0-1) received 16 points off the bench from sophomore center Cory Quimby. Meanwhile, sophomore guard Leon Porter wound up with 15 points and seven assists.

With things deadlocked 61-61 with 6:41 remaining, Gutierrez keyed a 14-4 Golden Knights' run by converting a feed from Pope in the paint and Saint Rose never trailed again. Pope buried a pair of 3-pointers during the outburst, including one off his own steal in the backcourt, and Hanuschak gave Saint Rose a comfortable 75-65 cushion with a tip-in to cap things.

Dominican cut its deficit to five, 76-71, with 2:24 showing to make it a two possession ballgame. However, the Golden Knights did not allow a field goal the rest of the way while canning 3-of-4 from the line down the stretch.

Saint Rose generated 34 points off 20 turnovers by the Chargers and also held a 19-11 margin in second chance points. That helped offset a shaky 31.3 percent (10-for-31) effort from the field, including an 0-for-7 streak from beyond the arc, in the first half.

In tonight's opener, Saint Anselm College came away with a convincing 92-59 victory over Holy Family University. The Hawks (1-0) had four players reach double-figures and wound up shooting 45.5 percent (31-for-60) from the floor and outscored the Tigers (0-1) 24-8 from the stripe as well.

All four squads return to action tomorrow when the NE-10 Challenge resumes. Dominican will take on Saint Anselm at 2:00 pm, while the host Golden Knights entertain Holy Family at 4:00 pm.

Box Score