Guadarrama immense as UNH survives Albany
Jan. 8—UNH turned to one of its senior leaders on Saturday to win a basketball game.
Nick Guadarrama, a 6-foot, 5-inch, 250-pound forward, scored a season-high 32 points, including four in the final 32 seconds, to lead the Wildcats past Albany 64-62 on Saturday afternoon at Lundholm Gym in Durham.
Guadarrama, of Newington, Conn., helped the Wildcats prevail after they squandered a lead in the final minute. His layup gave UNH a 61-60 lead, and his two free throws with eight seconds left made it 63-60. UNH held on from there, getting a free throw from Blondeau Tchoukuiegno with three seconds left for the final margin.
UNH, beaten at Vermont 82-68 on Thursday night, evened its America East record at 1-1. The Wildcats are 6-5 overall. Albany dropped to 0-2 and 4-10.
Guadarrama, whose previous career high was 34 points last January against UMBC, hit 11 of 16 shots from the field, including five of seven from 3-point land. He received help up front from New London's Tayler Mattos, a senior center who scored eight points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Nick Johnson also reached double figures, with 14 points.
Jamel Horton, whose foul shot with 44 seconds remaining gave Albany its only lead of the game, finished with a team-high 22 points.
The Wildcats started fast in a first half dominated by runs, posting leads of 8-0 and 21-6. After Albany went on an 11-0 run, UNH scored 12 of the next 14 points and led 38-28 at the break.
St. Anselm 79, Pace 78: In Goffstown, Miles Tention's 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer lifted the Hawks (6-4 overall, 2-3 in the Northeast-10). Tention and Chris Paul led St. Anselm with 24 points each.
