Williams Scores Career-High 37 but Bulldogs Fall to Hawks
Bulldogs Fall to Hawks In Overtime, 71-69
Williams Goes For Career-High 37 Points
Box Score
Manchester, N.H. (February 28, 2005)— In what could be termed as one of the best college basketball games played this season, Bryant and Saint Anselm squared off Monday night for a Northeast-10 Conference quarterfinal game and put on a show for the more than 1,000 fans in attendance.
Bryant's John Williams made a strong case for player of the year honors with a career-high 37 points in the game. The junior guard made seven three-pointers including a big three with two seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Saint Anselm, which entered the game as the third ranked team in the region, improves to 22-6 overall with the win and almost guarantees itself a spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The game-winner was redemption for Moore and the Hawks who saw a late 3-point lead in regulation go by the wayside as Bryant’s John Williams canned a triple with less than a second to go to send the game into the extra session. Williams was given the chance after an errant 3-point attempt from Chris Burns was tipped back to Williams. Seconds earlier, Moore, the league’s best free throw shooter, uncharacteristically missed a pair of free throws with three seconds left to set Bryant up with their last second chance.
Saint Anselm buried its first six shots from deep and built a 14-point first half lead in front of a boisterous crowd before Bryant started chipping away.
The Hawks could very well have put the game away early but an aggressive Bulldog defense forced 13 first half turnovers against a team that averaged just 12.4 per game coming in.
As time wore down in the opening half, Williams gave his side a big boost by hitting a desperation triple at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 11. The trend continued in the second half as the visitors connected on nine of their first 13 3-point attempts in a session that saw eight lead changes and five ties.
In overtime, the Bulldogs had their largest lead of the game at five, 77-72 but the Hawks made their last four field goal attempts including a long fade away 3-ball from Jim Holsworth (Bogota, N.J./ Bogota) to set up Moore’s heroics.
Moore finished with 27 points (10-21 FG, 6-8 FT) and 12 rebounds while Matt Cahill had 17 first half points en route to 20 (6-10 FG, 4-5 3-PT, 4-4 FT) to go with three assists and three steals. Holsworth added 14 points (4-6 3-PT) and a tied a career-high with five steals.
Williams stole the show for Bryant on 13-for-22 shooting which included a 7-for-13 mark from deep. Burns added 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting from deep as the Bulldogs tied a single game record with 15 threes, 12 of which came after halftime on 20 attempts (.600).
Bryant falls to 20-8 with the loss and must now await a possible bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The selection show will take place on Sunday, March 6 from 10:30 -11:00 PM and can be viewed live on DirecTV Channel 644, Dish Network Channel 410, via the internet at http://www.ncaasports.com .
