Excluding one particular milestone, Wednesday was not a good day for Saint Anselm College basketball, with both the men’s and women’s programs falling.
On the men’s side, junior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) reached 1,000 points in his career, but that wouldn’t be enough as the Hawks lost 88-79 to the University of Bridgeport.
Paul and sophomore Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif) led the Hawks with 17 points each, with Paul also leading the Hawks with seven rebounds.
Despite an early back-and-forth, the Purple Knights went into the break with an eight-point lead that continued to grow for large portions of the second half, sparked by an 8-2 run coming out of the break.
The women lost its first game of the season, falling 91-86 to Washburn College.
Peyton Steinman (Pittsfield, Mass.) had 34 points and 10 rebounds while Shannon Ryan (Plattsburgh, N.Y) now has eight straight double-doubles following a 26-point, 20-rebound night.
Washburn led over the first three quarters of the game, but the Hawks went on a 12-2 run during the final minutes to pull within three points of the lead.
However, Washburn converted nine of their 10 free-throw attempts down the stretch to provide the difference.
The loss was Saint Anselm’s opening game in the Cruzin’ Classic at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County Convention Center.
The women’s side (7-1) returns to action on Thursday against Fort Hays State in the second game of the Cruzin’ Classic. The men (6-3) return to action against Daemen on Jan. 1 at 1 p.m.
