Head Coach Keith Dickson of the Saint Anselm College men’s basketball team picked up his 700th career victory on Tuesday, defeating the University of New Haven by a 65-64 score to conclude the regular season of Northeast-10 Conference play.
- WATCH: Locker Room Celebration
The longest-tenured men’s basketball coach in Saint Anselm history, Dickson improves to 700-360 (.660) in his head coaching career that dates back to the 1986-87 season. He ranks fifth among active NCAA Division II head coaches in wins and is 16th among active NCAA head coaches in any division.
The winningest Head Coach in the history of the NE10 in terms of victories, Dickson is one of just five active NCAA head coaches (any division) with 700 victories while only coaching at one institution (Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Steve Ridder, Embry-Riddle; Tom Klusman, Rollins; Brian Baptiste, UMass Dartmouth).
The five-time NE10 Coach of the Year has guided the Hawks to two NCAA Division II regional championships (1999-00, 2018-19) and a stunning 21 NCAA tournament appearances in 36 seasons. Dickson was inducted into the college’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003 and earned the Walter A. Smith Coaches Award at the New Hampshire Parade of Champions Banquet that same season.
Tuesday’s win also locked down the No. 2 seed in the upcoming NE10 postseason as Saint Anselm (19-7) wrapped up the arduous regular-season schedule with a 15-5 record against league opponents. The Hawks have earned a First Round bye and will play either Adelphi or Pace, the winner of Friday’s NE10 postseason opener, on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m.
Senior Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif.) scored a game-high 20 points, helping Dickson to the historic victory. Junior Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) scored 12 points and added eight rebounds, matching senior Owen McGlashan (Marlton, N.J.) in the latter statistic.
Senior Tyler Arbuckle (Bristol, Conn.) scored 11 points with four rebounds and four assists with sophomore Zac Taylor (Victoria, Australia) contributing with six points and four rebounds. Freshman Elias Rodl (Berlin, Germany), the sixth and final Hawks student-athlete to see action, scored five points with one triple.
The Hawks led by as many as 13 points just minutes into the second half, but a strong 14-2 scoring run by New Haven trimmed the lead to just one, 50-49, with 11:27 left. The scoring spurt grew to 24-10 and the key shot, a triple by Davontrey Thomas, pushed the hosts ahead with 6:42 to go.
Each of Rodl’s five points in the game were clutch as he scored each of those for the Hawks in the game’s next 1:29, putting the Hawks ahead. New Haven went on to tie the game at 63 with 3:09 left, but back-to-back Arbuckle free throws with 1:02 left allowed Saint Anselm to win by one point.
After Arbuckle’s last free throw, New Haven scored just one point off a Quashawn Lane free throw. The Chargers attempted a last-second heave from well beyond the arc that missed wide left, sending the Hawks into the NE10 postseason as the No. 2 seed.
