Sparked by the play of John Nielsen and Chris Santo who came off the bench to tally double figures, St. Anselm rolled past St. Michael's, 74-56, in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the Stoutenburgh Gym in Goffstown Saturday.

With the win, the Hawks stretched their overall record to 21-4 and their conference mark to 17-4. The Purple Knights are 5-16 in the league.

Nielsen and Santo each scored 13 points in just over 20 minutes of play.

St. Anselm starters Mike McCahey and Dino Mallios netted 12 points each.

St. Michael's Greg Grippo led all scorers in the game with 14 points.

The Hawks scored the game's initial six points but St. Michael's rallied to tie the game at 16-16 with 13:26 left in the first half. Roy Mabrey's layup and Mallios's three-pointer with four seconds left in the frame gave the hosts a 38-31 halftime advantage.

St. Anselm never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 21 on a Nielsen three-point field goal with 6:27 to play and again later on a McCahey jumper with 2:38 showing.

St. Anselm shot 43 percent from the field in the game while St. Michael's had trouble with the Hawks defense and converted just 20 of 51 two-point attempts. St. Michael's, however, did outrebound the hosts, 39-36.

St. Anselm closes its NE-10 regular season Tuesday when it hosts Stonehill.