Salve Regina def. Roger Williams, 71-69

BRISTOL, R.I. - Salve Regina University men's basketball held on late for a 71-69 win over Roger Williams University Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action.

With the win, the Seahawks move over the .500 mark in the conference, going to 5-4 in CCC play and 9-7 overall. Roger Williams drops its fifth straight game and goes to 5-11 overall (2-7 CCC).

The contest was a back-and-forth affair throughout the entire game, with nine ties and 13 lead changes. Neither team led by more than nine in the game, with the largest lead of the second half only five.

Josh McCourt (Lincoln, R.I.) drained a three-pointer, with Trevor Fahmy (Bedford, N.H.) following with a layup to give RWU an early 5-0 lead. Salve Regina was held scoreless for nearly the first four minutes of the game before Brendan Canova (Edina, Minn.) knocked down a trey at the 16:45 mark.

His bucket started a 21-7 run to give the Seahawks their largest lead of the game, a nine-point advantage (21-12) with just over 12 minutes left in the half. The Hawks would eventually tie the game at 23 on a trey by Mike Engemann (Red Bank, N.J.) with 7:07 left in the half, but Salve Regina would ultimately regain the lead and go into the break with a 35-31 lead.

The second half saw six ties and eight lead changes; however, neither team was able to pull away. The Hawks took the biggest advantage of the period on a Travis Fonseca (Bridgeport, Conn.) layup to make it 66-61 with 5:33 to play.

Salve Regina would make it a one-point game, when Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) put down a three-pointer with 2:30 left. He would later knock down a pair of free throws with 1:19 left to give the Seahawks a 71-69 lead.

The Hawks were able to gain one more opportunity to send the game into overtime, forcing a Seahawk turnover with 12 seconds left. However, the Seahawk defense forced Engemann to put up a difficult jumper at the top of the key with four seconds left. The shot missed short, but found the hands of Matt Grossbard (Pearl River, N.Y.) for one last shot. However, his attempt also fell short, as Salve Regina escaped with the win.

Five players scored in double figures for the Seahawks, with Dinneen scoring a team-high 17 off the bench with three steals. Jeff Bielefeld (Littleton, Mass.) had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Joshua Hohlfelder (Noank, Conn.) also added 14 points. Canova and William Smiley (Saunderstown, R.I.) finished with ten points apiece.

McCourt led all scorers with a career-high 18 points, going a blistering 6-of-7 from downtown. Engemann added 13 points and two blocks, while Fonseca had a career-high ten points and five assists. Mike Igoe (Lexington, Mass.) added six points and eight rebounds.

Roger Williams host Eastern Nazarene College while Salve Regina welcomes Endicott to Rhode Island, both games on Wednesday evening.