Purple Knights Advance To Division II Men's Basketball East Regional Semifinal With 77-66 Win Over Saint Anselm

Manchester, N.H.-The number seven seeded University of Bridgeport men's basketball team advanced to NCAA Division II East Regional Semifinals on Saturday afternoon with a 77-66 win over the Saint Anselm College Hawks, the tournament's number two seed and the eleventh ranked team in the nation.  The Purple Knights move on to play the number three seed Assumption College Greyhounds at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday for a berth in  Tuesday NCAA East Regional Final in games that are being played at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, N.H.  With the win, Bridgeport is now 22-9 overall.  St. Anselm closes out its season with a 23-6 record.  Saturday's win is also the 250th in head coach Ruane's 13-year tenure on the UB bench.

Senior Darian David (Bronx, N.Y.) led four Bridgeport players in double-figure scoring with 21 points.  David was joined in double-digits by classmates Omari Howard (Bronx, N.Y.) and Lloyd Antoine (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 12 points plus Dion Waiters (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 12 points for the winners.  Antonie had a double-double with 11 rebounds to go along with his 12 points, and he blocked five shots.

Chris Santo led Saint Anslem with a game-high 32 points, and he finished with a double-double grabbing 12 rebounds.

The Purple Knights played strong defense on the afternoon limiting the Hawks to a field goal percentage of only 31.5 percent (23 of 73) for the game, plus St. A's was only 3 of 20 from three-point range.