Hawks Stun Top-Seeded Bentley in 88-85 Victory

Waltham, Mass. (March 3) -- Led by a career-high 27 points from junior Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.), the Saint Anselm men's basketball team stunned top-seeded Bentley by an 88-85 final to advance to the Northeast-10 Tournament semifinals. The Hawks now take on fifth-seeded Assumption on Thursday night.

The semifinal appearance is the 16th all-time for the Hawks, tying them with Bentley for the most all-time. The win also snaps Bentley's 12-game tournament winning streak at the Dana Center, dating back to 2006. That game was also a Hawk win as Saint Anselm defeated the Falcons by a 96-82 final in overtime to advance to the Northeast-10 Championship Game.

Bentley jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the opening minutes behind five quick points from Lew Finnegan. Saint Anselm got on the board seconds later on a pair of free throws from junior forward Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario). The Falcons jumped out to a 12-6 advantage five minutes in before Saint Anselm sophomore Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) knocked down a three to close within 12-9 with 14:06 left in the half. Baudinet missed this year's earlier meeting between the two teams due to injury.

After Bentley pushed the lead to 19-14 with 12:28 left in the opening half, the Hawks tied the game on a Baudinet three and took their first lead of the game at 21-19 with 10:11 on the clock. That lead came on a jumper from junior Giovanni Carenza (East Hanover, N.J.). After the Falcons tied the game again, the Hawks pushed the lead to 24-21 with a three-pointer from junior Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.). Saint Anselm maintained the three-point lead until the 4:09 mark when Finnegan scored on a layup to make it 30-29, forcing a Hawk timeout. Carenza knocked down his third jumper of the first half to make it a 39-35 contest with 1:19 left in the period. A pair of free throws from Jason Westrol and a jumper by Finnegan with two seconds left sent the game into the break tied at 39-39. Vetrano was the leader for the Hawks with 14, followed by 10 points by Baudinet. Brian Tracey and Finnegan each had nine points to pace Bentley.

Bentley took the lead in the early part of the second half and held a 49-45 lead. Saint Anselm cut that lead to two with a basket by Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.) with 16:42 left to make it a 49-47 game. The Falcons put together a 7-0 run over the next 2:17, capped a three from Mike Quinn, to seize a 56-47 lead and force a Hawk timeout. The timeout worked as Luptowski nailed two three-pointers within 16 seconds to pull the visitors back to 56-53.

The Falcons pushed the lead back to five before a three-pointer from Vetrano and a layup by John Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.) off a Bentley turnover made it a tie game at 58-58 with 11:37 left. The back-and-forth game continued as the Falcons again went out in front by four, but the Hawks answered on a four-point play by Vetrano, knotting things up at 64 with 10:21 remaining. Saint Anselm and Bentley kept trading baskets before Vetrano gave the Hawks the lead again at 71-69 with 7:45 left on his fifth three-pointer of the night. The two teams traded the lead twice more in the next couple of minutes before a pair of Finnegan free throws made it a 73-73 contest with exactly six minutes left in the game.

The two teams went back and forth before the Hawks took the lead again at 85-83 with 1:13 left on a jumper from Baudinet. Vetrano made one of two free throws with 38 seconds left for a three-point lead before Westrol sank two from the line for an 86-85 game. After a missed Hawk free throw, Carenza pulled down a defensive rebound after a Bentley missed and sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining. A Finnegan three went wide at the end as the Hawks knocked off the two-time defending NCAA Northeast Region champs and completed a night of all four lower-seeded teams winning in the league tournament.

Vetrano led all scorers with 27 points, including five three-pointers. Baudinet had 17 and a trio of threes, while Luptowski finished with 11 points and a trio of long balls. Mariano added 11 points and Carenza had 10 points and five rebounds. Westrol had 24 points for Bentley, while Finnegan finished with 23.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 17-12 overall, while Bentley drops to 24-6 on the season. Saint Anselm travels to Assumption for a 7 p.m. start on Thursday night, with the winner facing the winner of the Le Moyne/Southern New Hampshire semifinal.