FRANKLIN, Mass. – January 22, 2022 – Saint Joseph's College senior Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Maine) scored 29 points to lead the Monks to an 82-73 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) road win at Dean College Saturday afternoon.
Dean falls to 5-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play. The Bulldogs travel to Anna Maria for a makeup game on Monday at 7:00 p.m. Saint Joseph's College improves to 4-13 overall and 3-6 in the GNAC. The Monks play at Colby-Sawyer on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. tip.
Curtis was 11-16 from the floor and 6-10 from beyond the arc to lead all players. Senior Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) scored 17 points on 7-12 shooting, while freshman Julian Llopiz (Boston, Mass.) added 11 points off the bench.
Junior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) led Dean with his eighth double-double of the season. He finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Winston Bryan (Greensboro, N.C.) was 4-7 from the floor and made all six of his free throw attempts to finish with 16 points. Junior Hunter Meyer (Taylor Mills, Ky.) went 6-9 from the field to add 12 points for Dean.
The visitors took a 25-14 lead with 7:50 left in the first half after three straight buckets by Curtis. Dean chipped away in the next three minutes to cut the deficit to 28-26 on a Meyer layup. A lay-in by junior Ashtyn Abbott (Farmingdale, Maine) pushed the Monks' lead back to six, 34-28, with less than three minutes to play. The home team responded with a 10-0 run, capped by a Nick Sampeck (Blanco, Texas) three-pointer, to take a 38-34 lead. Curtis hit a running three-pointer at the buzzer to make the score 38-37 in favor of the Bulldogs at the break.
The Monks continued to shoot the ball well from beyond the arc in the second half, making 7-of-14 attempts. Curtis drilled a trey midway through the second half to give the Monks a 10-point advantage. St. Joe's kept a double-digit lead for the remainder of the half until Dean freshman Andy Lopez (Miami, Fla.) made a layup in the waning seconds to make the final, 82-73.
St. Joe's shot 53.2% from the field and made 12 three-pointers, while the Bulldogs shot 44.4% and made four treys. Dean had a 39-33 advantage in rebounding and a 42-36 edge in points in the paint.
COURTESY OF DEAN COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
