STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's (10-5, 6-1 GNAC) fell to Bates College (9-8, 0-2 NESCAC), 65-50, in a non-conference men's basketball contest at the Harold Alfond Center on Wednesday night. Monks junior guard Chris Petzy (Kensington, NH) led all players with 17 points in the setback.
Bobcats junior forward John Squires (Swampscott, MA) paced the visitors with 13 points and eight caroms while Brian Ellis '11 (Braintree, MA) tallied 12 points and Alex Gallant '11 (Bangor, ME) chipped in with 10.
Zach O'Brien '12 (Schenectady, NY) netted 16 points and Matthew Medeiros '14 (Westport, MA) chipped in with 11 off a 3-5 effort from beyond the arc. Nicholas Jobin '14 (Westbrook, ME) led the Royal Blue with four rebounds.
Bates raced out to a daunting lead in the early minutes, as a three-pointer from Kyle Philbrook '12 (Auburn, ME), the brother of SJC freshman James Philbrook '14 (Auburn, ME), at the 16:47 mark put the Bobcats up by a 12-2 margin. The Monks never fully recovered from the early debt and shot just 25% (4-16) from three-point range and 39.6% (19-48) overall in the losing effort.
To make matters worse, St. Joe's was out-rebounded by a whopping 37-22 margin and managed to collect only seven offensive caroms in the contest. Nearly half of the Bobcats' boards were of the offensive variety, as the visitors hauled in 16 rebounds off their own missed shots.
Despite the early disadvantage, St. Joe's climbed back into the game with a 9-4 run that cut the Bates lead to 16-11 after Petzy made a layup at the 11:28 mark. Petzy drained another shot to keep the deficit in single digits, 27-19, with 1:05 left in the opening half, but Thomas Deegan '11 (Weymouth, MA) and Squires scored back to back buckets in the final minute to provide Bates with a 31-19 cushion heading into the break.
In the first half, St. Joe's shot 34.8% from the floor and 11.1% from three-point distance and went 2-2 from the charity stripe. Bates shot 48.3% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc with a 2-3 effort from the FT line.
Gallant led all first-half scorers with 10 points, while O'Brien paced the Monks with eight in the first 20 minutes.
The Bobcats managed to push their lead to a game-high 20 points, 44-24, with a 13-5 run that was capped by a Squires bucket at the 13:05 mark of the second stanza. Nearly three minutes later, Medeiros and Reid Christian '12 (Pownal, ME) traded trifectas in a matter of 40 seconds to make it a 49-31 contest.
From here, Saint Joseph's mustered a 15-4 run that cut the SJC deficit to seven points – 53-46 – after Terence Cullen '14 (Massapequa, NY) converted a pair of freebies with 5:35 remaining. The Monks went 6-6 from the free throw line and Medeiros scored five points during the Royal Blue surge.
Thoughts of a comeback were short-lived, however, as the Bobcats sealed the deal with a 12-4 run that closed out the contest. Any hopes of a miraculous triumph were dashed when Squires converted a traditional three-point play to put his team up by 15 with 1:25 left.
Saint Joseph's shot 39.6% (19-48) overall, 25% (4-16) from three-point range and 100% (8-8) from the FT line in the loss. Bates countered by shooting 49.2% (29-59) from the field, 31.3% (5-16) from downtown and 66.7% (2-3) from the line.
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 6-9 in the history of the series with Bates College.
The Monks will play host to GNAC-rival Mount Ida College on Saturday at 3:00 PM, while the Bobcats will play at Colby College in a conference contest on Friday evening at 6:00 PM.
Postgame interview with Matthew Medeiros:
