STANDISH, ME - The third-seeded Saint Joseph's College men's basketball team will host seventh-seeded Albertus Magnus College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference Semi-final game on Thursday at 7:00 PM.

In the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, the Monks (19-7, 12-6 GNAC) defeated Rivier College 85-67 at the Harold Alfond Center and #7 Albertus Magnus (14-12, 9-9) bounced #2 Emerson College 78-50. The upset by the Falcons granted St. Joe's another home playoff game, as the highest remaining seed hosts throughout the GNAC tourney. In the other bracket of the eight-team tournament, #1 Lasell defeated #8 Norwich, 67-59, and #4 Emmanuel slipped past #5 Johnson & Wales, 90-86. Lasell will host Emmanuel in a 7:00 PM semifinal game on Thursday.

The winners of Thursday's games will advance to the GNAC Championship, which will be played on Saturday and hosted by the highest seed. The conference title holder is rewarded with a berth into the NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.

The Monks, who have defeated the Falcons twice this year, handed Albertus Magnus its last defeat when the Royal Blue eked out an 87-86 win on February 10th in New Haven, CT. Since the loss, the Falcons have rattled off four straight wins, defeating opponents by an average of 16.5 points. Elbie Murphy ‘09 (Loudonville, NY) and Tyler Kelley ‘11 (Saco, ME) have averaged 18.5 points for St. Joe's in the victories, while Francisco Cordova ‘09 (Windsor, CT) led the Falcons with 15.5 PPG against the Monks.