Men's Basketball

Purple Knights trim 13-point deficit to one late during 81-76 setback, Holton nets 30

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team trimmed a 13-point deficit to one point late in the second half on Thursday before suffering an 81-76 setback at Saint Anselm College in Stoutenburgh Gym. Now 4-8 overall and 3-5 in the Northeast-10 Conference, the Purple Knights have absorbed five of their losses by six points or fewer. The Hawks are 4-8 and 2-6.

Sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) led all players with a career-best 30 points for the visitors, shooting 10-of-18 from the floor, including 5-for-9 from beyond the arc, and hitting all five free throw attempts. Freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) added 10 points and six assists off the bench, junior Travis Warech (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville) also tallied 10 points, and freshman James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) rejected three shots.

Saint Anselm, which went 25-of-37 on free throws while attempting 20 more freebies than the Purple Knights, received 24 points from sophomore Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass./Suffield Academy), who went 12-of-16 at the charity stripe. Freshman Ron Mabrey (Belmar, N.J./Saint Thomas More) had 18 points, and senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y./Owego Free Academy) notched 12.

A Cambronne lay-up at 18:08 of the second half had the visitors within 44-41 before Saint Anselm netted 15 of the next 20 points to grab a 59-46 lead at 9:51. Freshman Dom Ditlefsen's (Portland, Ore./Sunset) three-point play made it 61-54 at 7:20, and Holton's triple produced a 67-61 margin with 5:40 remaining.

Holton hit another three in between a pair of hoops from senior Tyler Schilling (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) during a 7-0 run, as the visitors trailed 71-70 with 2:55 left. The Hawks scored the next five points, but Crawford hit all three freebies with 16 ticks to go after being fouled while shooting from beyond the arc. Following two Saint Anselm free throws, senior Tom Ward (Brighton, East Sussex, England/Saint Francis [N.Y.]) hit a trey with seven seconds left, and Saint Michael's trailed just 78-76. However, while in possession and looking for a tying three-pointer with five ticks remaining, the visitors turned the ball over.

Saint Michael's erased an early 15-6 deficit behind accurate three-point shooting, as a trio of Purple Knights canned triples during a 1:32 stretch, with Crawford bringing the visitors within 19-15 at 12:42 of the opening half. The Purple and Gold withstood a hot Saint Anselm start, as the Hawks began the contest 9-of-11 from the floor but only led 23-19 following Crawford's lay-up at 10:23.

Saint Michael's eventually trailed by a 34-24 count with fewer than four minutes remaining in the stanza but nearly completely erased its deficit by halftime. Holton had five points during a 7-0 run that took 59 seconds to elapse, and Warech drained a trey at 2:12 to make it 36-34. By halftime, at which point the Hawks led 39-36, each team was shooting 50 percent, both going 14-for-28.

The Purple Knights continue a three-game road trip on Saturday at NE-10 leader Adelphi University at 3:30 p.m.