RINDGE, N.H. (February 14, 2015) – Senior Paul Becklens (Boston, Mass.) sank a new career-high 30 points on Saturday afternoon, including going a perfect 13-13 from the free throw line. That, along with a 13 point day from junior Tyler Iacuone (Mahopac, N.Y.) led the Franklin Pierce University Men's Basketball team in an upset win over the Saint Anselm College Hawks by a score of 84-72.

With the win, the Ravens snap a two game losing skid and improve to 14-11 (9-9 Northeast-10), while Saint Anselm drops to 15-7 (12-6 Northeast-10). The two teams now split their season series, as the Hawks had defeated the Ravens 91-88 back on December 6.

Becklens backed up his 30 points by dishing out eight assists and grabbing four rebounds. Iacuone made his day on the boards and behind the three-point line, going 3-5 from behind the arc, and snatching six rebounds. He also led the team the team in steals with four. Senior Ryen Vilmont (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished with 11 points, a team high seven rebounds, and three assists. Both senior Aboubacar Casse (Dakar, Senegal) and junior Jacob Jacquo (New Britain, Conn.) had significant contributions to the offense, as Casse finished with 11 and Jacquo with nine.

Leading the Hawks was Chris Santo, as he came through with a game-high 34 points and grabbed nine rebounds, falling one short of a double-double. Victor Joshua was similarly effective on offense, as he put in 16 points of his own and dishing four assists despite early foul trouble. Mark Schulze was strong on the board all game, getting into double-digits with 10.

The game began with an opening layup from Santo only ten seconds into the contest, and the Ravens didn't score until 2:20 into the game when Becklens nailed his first two points on the day at the free throw line. A Saint Anselm layup by Joshua would give Saint Anselm their biggest lead of the day at six points three minutes in. That lead would begin to disappear, and finally fall after a three-pointer by Casse gave the Ravens a three point lead with 14 minutes to play in the half.

Franklin Pierce would maintain that lead through the half, leading by 13 heading into the locker room. The start of the second half would not treat the Ravens very well, as they went cold from the field and allowed the Hawks to crawl back into the game. Franklin Pierce only hit two baskets in the opening six minutes, while Saint Anselm brought the lead back to within one point on two Victor Joshua free throws.

The score would bounce around the two teams, with the Ravens lead not getting any larger than six points until 9:22 remained. Franklin Pierce came out of their start-of-the-half slump and once again began to pull away with back-to-back three's from Vilmont and Jacquo with 6:29 to play.

From there the Ravens maintained their lead in double digits through the final buzzer to take the win.

Despite shooting over 50 percent from the field in the second half, and going 43.5 percent for the whole game, Saint Anselm only managed to hit one three pointer the entire game going 1-17 (5.9%) from behind the arc. The also struggled from the line, only shooting a tad over 77 percent while the Ravens missed only two shots (20-22) from the charity stripe.

Franklin Pierce will next take to the hardwood on Wednesday, February 18 when they finish up their current three game home stand as they take on Stonehill at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce basketball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).