BOSTON, MA - #1 Seed Emerson College (24-3) defeated #5 St. Joe's (14-13) 79-75 in a GNAC Semifinal game on Thursday evening. SO Alberto Rue (Jamaica Plain, MA) and JR Elbie Murphy (Loudonville, NY) each scored 14 points as five Monks players scored 10 or more points in the close contest. The win sends the top seeded Lions to the Championship Game for the third time in four years where they will host second seeded Lasell College at 1:00pm on Saturday, March 1.

Emerson's sophomore forward Bryan Rouse (East Greenwich, RI) tallied 28 points and eight rebounds to help lead the Lions to victory.

The game was close throughout with Emerson opening up the largest lead with an 11-1 run breaking a 23-23 first half tie. St. Joe's was able to pull within 38-34 at the break after JR Scott Vachon (Schenectady, NY) made layups on back-to-back SJC possesions. The first stanza featured three ties and nine lead changes.

Emerson held the lead for the first six minutes of the second half until a jump shot by Elbie Murphy knotted the score at 49. After Emerson took a four point lead following a layup by Rouse, Murphy answered with a layup of his own, and Alberto Rue nailed a three-ball to give the Monks a 56-55 lead with 10:53 remaining. Two free throws from GNAC Player of the Year SO Jeremy Shannon (Lowell, MA) briefly gave Emerson the lead, but another trifecta from Rue put the Monks up 59-57.

Shannon drilled two free throws to tie the score at 59 at the 9:27 mark, and FR Tom Messinger (Florence, MA) nailed a three to give the Lions a 62-59 advantage. A second consecutive three point shot from Messinger put the Lions up by six. St. Joe's pulled back to within three points on three different occasions, but a three pointer by SR Will Dawkins (Springfield, MA) moved the lead to 79-72 with 12 seconds left and sealed the victory.

In addition to Rouse, Shannon with 18 and Messinger with 14 were in double figures for the Lions. Dawkins had eight assists.

Five Monks were in double figures led by Murphy and Rue with 14. Rue put up another solid performance from three-point range, making 4 of 6 downtown bids in the contest. JR Scott Vachon (Schenectady, NY) scored a dozen and added 5 assists and 3 steals, while FY Eric Friend (Portland, ME) and SO Raymond Eatmon (Huntington, NY) each chipped in with 10 points.

The Monks posted an impressive 50.8% (31-61) shooting percentage, but the Emerson Lions were even better from the floor and made an even 60% (27-45) of their attempts. The Lions were unflappable at the charity stripe as they converted 90% (18-20) of their free throw attempts in the game.

St. Joseph's College vs Emerson College
02/28/08 7:00pm at Piano Row Gymnasium, Boston, Mass.

EMERSON COLLEGE 79, ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE 75
ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (14-12)

Elbie Murphy 6-13 1-3 14; Alberto Rue 4-9 2-2 14; Scot Vachon 6-13 0-0 12;
Raymond Eatmon 4-9 2-3 10; Eric Friend 4-6 1-1 10; Rashon Jones 2-2 0-0 5;
Mitch Ouellet 2-2 0-0 4; Alonso Davis 2-3 0-0 4; Chris Davis 1-3 0-0 2;
Tyler Kelley 0-1 0-0 0; Jay Tutwiler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-61 6-9 75.

EMERSON COLLEGE (23-3)
Bryan Rouse 9-11 10-11 28; Jeremy Shannon 5-6 8-9 18; Tom Messinger 5-13 0-0
14; Will Dawkins 4-6 0-0 9; Ben Chase 3-6 0-0 8; Jon Showers 1-2 0-0 2;
Anthony Remias 0-0 0-0 0; Joe Boylan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-45 18-20 79.

St. Joseph's College.......... 34 41 - 75
Emerson College............... 38 41 - 79

3-point goals-
St. Joseph's College 7-16 (Alberto Rue 4-6; Elbie Murphy 1-6; Rashon Jones 1-1; Eric Friend 1-1; Raymond Eatmon 0-1; Scot Vachon 0-1)

Emerson College 7-18 (Tom Messinger 4-12; Ben Chase 2-4; Will Dawkins 1-1;
Jon Showers 0-1)

Fouled out--St. Joseph's College-None, Emerson College-None

Rebounds-
St. Joseph's College 27 (Raymond Eatmon 4; Elbie Murphy 4; Eric Friend 4; Alonso Davis 4)

Emerson College 24 (Bryan Rouse 8)

Assists-
St. Joseph's College 14 (Scot Vachon 5)
Emerson College 17 (Will Dawkins 8)

Total fouls-St. Joseph's College 18, Emerson College 16.

Semi-finals of the 2008 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship
Tournament. Emerson is the #1 seed, St. Joseph's is the #5 seed.