ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose men's basketball team shot a season-high 60.3 percent (35-for-58) from the floor to upend visiting Saint Anselm College 92-82 in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament tonight. The Golden Knights have now won eight in a row, the longest current streak in the NE-10.
Saint Rose (21-7) will travel to top-seed Bentley University (21-6) for a semifinal encounter on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 7:00 pm in Waltham, MA. The Falcons advanced via a 67-54 triumph over ninth-seed Saint Michael's College this evening.
The first 25 minutes of action was a see-saw battle as 12 lead changes and 10 ties ensued over that span. Sophomore guard
Andre Pope finally broke a 54-54 tie on a jumper with 15:09 to go and Saint Rose never trailed again. Pope's bucket actually keyed a decisive 12-2 run that he capped off with a pair of free throws that put the Golden Knights up 10, 66-56, with 11:39 left.
The Hawks (19-9) whittled away at their deficit by outscoring Saint Rose 12-7 over the next four minutes to close to within five, 73-68, at the 7:34 mark. Senior guard and NE-10 Player of the Year Thomas Baudinet put Saint Anselm on his shoulders during the run by scoring eight of the team's 12 points, including a 3-pointer from the baseline that got the Hawks back to within striking distance.
The Golden Knights maintained their efficiency down the stretch and boosted their margin back to double-digits 89-79, after junior guard
Rob Gutierrez canned a pair of free throws with 1:33 on the clock. Saint Rose, which entered the game as the top free throw shooting team in the league (.789), continued its clutch performance at the stripe by burying 7-of-9 attempts throughout the final five minutes to all but seal its fifth semifinal berth within its 11-year NE-10 tenure.
The Golden Knights placed four players in double-figures for the 14th time this year. Junior forward
Brian Hanuschak finished two shy of his career-high with 21 points to go along with eight boards and three blocks. Junior guard
Shea Bromirski also had 21 points and five assists, while Gutierrez and Pope added 18 and 11 points respectively.
Saint Anselm received 23 points from Baudinet despite a 6-for-17 effort from the floor. Freshman forward Allen Harris had 12 points as well.
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