Worcester, Mass. (December 6) -- After trailing for the first 38 minutes of the game, the Assumption men's basketball team held visiting Saint Rose to one field goal over the final nine minutes to come away with a 60-55 win in Northeast-10 Conference play on Tuesday night at Laska Gym.

"I think we handled their pressure a little bit better in the second half," said head coach Matt Mahar. "We competed more. I think they competed harder in the first half than we did and we needed to change that in the second half, which we did."

The Hounds trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half before taking a 29-22 deficit into the halftime break. Assumption shot just 29.6 percent from the field in the opening period before heating up in the second half.

In the second, the Hounds got to within a basket at 43-41 with 11:15 left following a layup from Tim Beinert (Bellerose Village, N.Y./Holy Cross), but the Golden Knights answered and led by seven with 9:07 remaining in the game. Assumption chipped away and got the lead down to 50-47 with a three-pointer from Cory Schmidt (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh), but Saint Rose rebounded as Rob Gutierrez scored on a layup to make it a five-point game with 4:40 left.

That was the final field goal of the night for the Golden Knights though as the Hounds completed the comeback on a Schmidt three with 1:49 left to tie the game at 55-55. Assumption took the lead seconds later as Schmidt fed Kevin Donahue (Pawcatuck, Conn./Stonington) for a fastbreak layup and the 57-55 lead. A free throw by Ryan Rozsnaki (Montreal, Quebec/Landstown) and two free throws by Ronson Quick (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) sealed up the win as the Hounds improve to 3-1 at home this season.

"We've lost a few close ones here, I think three games by five points or less," said Mahar. "To see the guys pull it out at the end was definitely a good thing."

Donahue led the Hounds with 22 points, while Beinert had 12 and Quick finished with 10. Gutierrez led Saint Rose with 16, along with 11 points from senior Brian Hanuschak.

Assumption is now 5-3 overall and 4-2 in Northeast-10 play, while Saint Rose remains winless at 0-8 overall and 0-6 in league play. The Hounds are back in action on December 17th when the team travels to Pace University.