SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The American International College men's basketball team closed the game with a 17-2 run over the final 7:04 but it was not enough as the Yellow Jackets fell to visiting Saint Anselm College Sunday afternoon in a Northeast-10 contest at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium.

The Hawks improved to 5-8 overall and 3-6 in the NE-10, while AIC fell to 4-9 overall and 2-7 in conference play after dropping its fourth in a row.

Neither team led by more than five in the first half and the Yellow Jackets held a slim 26-45 lead at the intermission. Saint Anselm held a 35-33 advantage six minutes into the second half before breaking the game open with a 17-1 to open a 52-34 lead with seven minutes to go in the game.

The Hawks would need every one of those points as AIC stormed back to make it a one possession game with 1:25 to go in the contest as sophomore guard Spencer Braithwaite (Dorchester, Mass.) knocked down a jumper for what proved to be the 54-51 final.

Unfortunately AIC's shooting went cold after that and the Yellow Jackets were unable to draw even. Braithwaite threw up a three from the corner just before time expired, but his shot was off the mark and Saint Anselm held on for the win.

Freshman guard Roy Mabry (Belmar, N.J.) scored 16 points with four assists and four boards to lead the Hawks to the win. Junior guard James Morse (Arundel, Maine) scored eight points with six boards, while sophomore forward Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds off the bench.

Sophomore guard Janek Schmidkunz (Berlin, Germany) netted a game-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 shooting from long distance to lead AIC. Braithwaite also finished in double-figures for the Yellow Jackets with 13 points to go with a game-high six assists and four rebounds.

AIC will next host Bentley University, which is receiving voted in the latest NABC Coaches' Poll, Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Butova Gymnasium.