STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (8-2, 2-1 GNAC) erased an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat Bowdoin College (7-3), 74-70, on Saturday afternoon at the Alfond Center. Tyler Kelley ‘11 (Saco, ME) drilled a career-best five three-pointers in the victory and scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to help the Royal Blue defeat the Polar Bears for the first time since 2003. Mark Phillips ‘10 (Ashland, MA) led Bowdoin with 15 points in the losing effort.

The victory over Bowdoin, an NCAA Tournament participant in 2008, is the first in Rob Sanicola's tenure as the head coach of the Monks and snaps a five game losing streak to the Polar Bears.

Five SJC players sank shots from beyond the arc to help Saint Joseph's post the team's best three-point percentage, 55% (11-20), of the young season. Elbie Murphy ‘09 (Loudonville, ME) and Zach O'Brien ‘12 (Schenectady, NY) both made a pair of treys and scored 15 and 13 points, respectively, in the triumph. The eleven threes made is the most since St. Joe's drained 12 in a 79-70 win over Mount Ida College on February 19th, 2008.

Early returns for the Royal Blue were bleak, however. After Kelley drained his first three-pointer at the 16:36 mark to give his team a 7-6 lead, the Polar Bears blanked the Monks, 12-0, in the following five minutes to take an 18-7 advantage. Phillips tallied four points, including a dunk on a fast break, with three rebounds and two blocks during the Bowdoin surge.

The visiting Polar Bears extended their lead to a game-high 16 points, 33-17, with 6:42 left in the first when Kyle Jackson ‘09 (Acton, MA) drove the lane for a layup after Paul Sellew ‘10 (Glastonbury, CT) forced a St. Joe's turnover.

A pair of three-pointers by O'Brien on consecutive SJC possessions and four points from Mitch Ouellet ‘09 (Fort Kent, ME) in the final minutes kept the game within striking distance for the Monks, as the Polar Bears took an eight-point lead, 38-30, into intermission.

St. Joe's fought back into the game by forcing three Bowdoin turnovers in the opening two minutes of the second stanza and trailed by three, 40-37, after Scot Vachon ‘09 (Schenectady, NY) collected a loose ball and converted a layup at the 17:53 mark.

Although Bowdoin led by at least six points for the following 12 minutes, St. Joe's managed to stay in the game with the help of a 57.7% (15-26) shooting effort in the second half.

Murphy led the Monks in their successful comeback bid, as he connected on a 12-foot baseline jumper and assisted on a Kelley layup with a quick inbounds pass to pull his team within three, 66-63, with 5:24 to play. The senior came up clutch again just over a minute later when he drained a long three-pointer to knot the game at 66 apiece.

Murphy came up with yet another big play seconds later when he blocked a Phillips shot to preserve the tie with 3:24 remaining. Following the block, O'Brien provided the Monks with their first lead in over 33 minutes of play with a jumpshot and, on the following SJC possession, Kelley drained his fifth three-pointer of the contest to provide his team with a five-point cushion, 71-66, with 1:47 to play.

The Bowdoin press defense yielded a pair of SJC turnovers in the final minute, but the Polar Bears were unable to capitalize as Saint Joseph's went 3-4 from the charity stripe en route to a 74-70 victory over the visitors.

For Bowdoin, Tim Lane ‘09 (Townsend, MA) scored four points, Kyle Jackson tallied eight points, a game-high nine rebounds and six assists and Mike Hauser ‘10 (East Williston, NY) had seven points, six rebounds and six assists.

Both teams displayed strong shooting efforts in the evenly matched contest, as Saint Joseph's shot 51.0% (26-51) from the field to edge the 50.9% (29-57) effort from Bowdoin. The visitors held a commanding 36-20 edge in rebounds, but the three-point shooting proved to be the difference in the game, as the Monks netted 11 of 20 treys while the Polar Bears made just four of 15 bids from beyond the arc in the losing effort.

Saint Joseph's will return to action on Wednesday, January 7th when they play at GNAC rival Suffolk University in a 6:00 PM contest. Bowdoin will play at Plymouth State on January 6th at 4:00 PM.


Bowdoin College vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
01-03-09 3:00 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 74, BOWDOIN COLLEGE 70
BOWDOIN COLLEGE (7-3)
Mark Phillips 6-10 3-3 15; Tim Lane 4-6 2-2 10; Paul Sellew 3-6 1-2 9; Randy
Defeo 4-9 0-0 9; Kyle Jackson 3-9 2-2 8; Mike Hauser 3-8 0-0 7; Darian
Reid-Sturgis 3-4 0-0 6; Will Hanley 3-5 0-0 6; Ryan O'Connell 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 29-57 8-9 70.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (8-2)
Tyler Kelley 8-11 1-2 22; Elbie Murphy 6-11 1-1 15; Zach O'Brien 4-6 3-3 13;
Chris Petzy 3-8 0-0 7; Mitch Ouellet 2-7 2-2 6; Chris Davis 2-3 1-1 6; Scot
Vachon 1-1 3-4 5; R. J. Mattison 0-0 0-0 0; Anthony Savino 0-2 0-0 0;
Alberto Rue 0-2 0-0 0; Jay Tutwiler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-51 11-13 74.
Bowdoin College............... 38 32 - 70
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 30 44 - 74
3-point goals--Bowdoin College 4-15 (Paul Sellew 2-4; Mike Hauser 1-3; Randy
Defeo 1-4; Will Hanley 0-1; Kyle Jackson 0-3), St. Joseph's (Me.) 11-20
(Tyler Kelley 5-8; Elbie Murphy 2-3; Zach O'Brien 2-2; Chris Petzy 1-3;
Chris Davis 1-1; Alberto Rue 0-2; Mitch Ouellet 0-1). Fouled out--Bowdoin
College-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. Rebounds--Bowdoin College 36 (Kyle
Jackson 9), St. Joseph's (Me.) 20 (Elbie Murphy 5). Assists--Bowdoin College
18 (Mike Hauser 6; Kyle Jackson 6), St. Joseph's (Me.) 17 (Elbie Murphy 4;
Zach O'Brien 4). Total fouls--Bowdoin College 15, St. Joseph's (Me.) 10.
Technical fouls--Bowdoin College-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. A-200