STANDISH, ME - Third-seeded Saint Joseph's (20-7, 12-6 GNAC) defeated #7 Albertus Magnus College (14-13, 9-9), 75-64, in a GNAC Semi-final on Thursday evening in front of a packed crowd at the Harold Alfond Center. With the victory, the Monks advance to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship, and will host #4 Emmanuel College, who tonight pulled off an upset double-overtime victory over top-seeded Lasell, on Saturday at 2:00 PM. Tyler Kelley '11 (Saco, ME) and Ray Eatmon '10 (Huntington, NY) both netted 14 points for St. Joe's, while Scot Vachon '09 (Schenectady, NY) and Alberto Rue '10 (Jamaica Plain, MA), 4-5 from three-point land, added 12 apiece in the win over the Falcons.

The GNAC championship appearance will be the first for St. Joe's, which is in its second-year as a member of the conference.

The game was fast paced from the tip-off to the final buzzer and required less than 90 minutes to complete. Vachon ignited the SJC offense from the start, as he converted a pair of slashing drives to the hoop to give the Monks a 4-0 lead after 1:24 of play. Four minutes later, the game was knotted at eight-apiece after Albertus guard Byron Reaves ‘12 (Hamden, CT) made a jumpshot and the Falcons went on to secure an 11-8 advantage with 13:26 left in the first as Ray Askew ‘12 (Hamden, CT) made three free throws for the visitors.

Andrae Beckford ‘12 (Bridgeport, CT) made a basket at the 12:29 mark to open up what would be an 11-6 outburst for the Falcons. A hoop from Ryan Butler ‘12 (Stratford, CT) with 5:51 remaining in the half capped the run with Albertus holding a 22-16 lead.

The momentum swung the Monks way for the rest of the opening stanza, however. St. Joe's scored eight unanswered points in the next 2:19, with the final hoop coming from Vachon. The swift senior drove the lane and his layup bid was denied by an Askew block, but the stuff was correctly ruled goaltending by the officials and the two points counted, putting the hosts up 24-22 with 4:04 to go before the break.

The Monks proceeded to outscore the Falcons 12-6, with the help of five points from Kelley during the stretch, in the closing minutes of the first and carried a 36-28 lead into the intermission.

As it played out, St. Joe's would not relinquish the lead in the second period, although Albertus Magnus managed to tie the game on two occasions.

A three-pointer from a wide-open Mitch Ouellet ‘09 (Fort Kent, ME) two minutes into the latter half put the Monks up by 11, 41-30, but the pesky Falcons fired back with an 11-2 run to get back into the mix. Walden St. Juste ‘11 (Hartford, CT) came out of the locker room on a tear and scored seven points during the AMC surge.

A pair of freebies from Elbie Murphy ‘09 (Loudonville, NY) and a bucket from Chris Davis ‘11 (New York, NY) helped SJC increase the cushion to 47-41, but Albertus scored six straight points in the next two minutes to as a layup from Francisco Cordova ‘09 (Windsor, CT) tied the game at 47 apiece with 12:39 to play.

Eatmon and Cordova traded baskets as the game remained deadlocked over a minute later, but a pair of longballs from Rue, a 2008 GNAC All-Tournament Team selection, capped an 11-2 SJC outburst that spanned six minutes as the victors had secured a 60-51 advantage with 6:23 left.

The breathing room wouldn't last long for St. Joe's, however, as a trey from Askew and a jumper from St. Juste made it a two-possession game, 60-56, for Albertus with 4:28 to go. Eatmon made an open shot on the following trip down the floor for the Monks and Vachon went coast-to-coast, finishing with a soft touch off the glass on a determined drive to the bucket, after grabbing a defensive carom to give his team a 64-56 lead. Another three from Rue with 1:54 remaining put Saint Joseph's up by 12 and in the driver's seat for the countdown.

The Monks outshot the Falcons 46.2% (30-65) to 38.0% (27-71) from the field in the game. While the effort from beyond the arc (5-15, 33.3%) was unspectacular, other than Rue's 4-5 performance, Albertus fared even worse, as the visitors shot just 16.7% (3-18) from downtown in the loss.

For St. Joe's, Murphy had seven points, five assists and three blocks, Chris Davis added seven points and six boards and Kelley secured a team-high eight rebounds. Eatmon had seven caroms, four assists and three blocks to go with his 14 points.

For Albertus Magnus, Askew notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards and Cordova had 14 points and eight rebounds. St. Juste added 13 points, all in the second stanza, in the losing effort.


Newspaper Box Score
Albertus Magnus vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
02/26/09 7:00 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 75, ALBERTUS MAGNUS 64
ALBERTUS MAGNUS (14-13)
Francisco Cordova 6-10 2-5 14; Ray Askew 5-11 3-5 14; Walden St. Juste 6-14
0-0 13; John Donahue 2-4 0-0 5; Bobby Leonzo 2-7 0-0 4; Ryan Butler 2-4 0-0
4; Byron Reaves 2-7 0-0 4; Andrae Beckford 1-3 0-0 2; Alex Muniz 1-3 0-0 2;
Adam Hovan 0-1 2-2 2; Mike Torres 0-0 0-0 0; Matt Maya 0-0 0-0 0; Mike
Barber 0-7 0-0 0; Chris Hovan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-71 7-12 64.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (20-7)
Ray Eatmon 7-11 0-0 14; Tyler Kelley 5-13 4-5 14; Scot Vachon 6-9 0-1 12;
Alberto Rue 4-7 0-2 12; Chris Davis 3-8 1-2 7; Elbie Murphy 1-7 5-7 7; Chris
Petzy 2-5 0-0 4; Mitch Ouellet 1-2 0-0 3; Alonso Davis 1-3 0-0 2; Anthony
Savino 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-65 10-17 75.
Albertus Magnus............... 28 36 - 64
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 36 39 - 75
3-point goals--Albertus Magnus 3-18 (Ray Askew 1-3; Walden St. Juste 1-6;
John Donahue 1-1; Byron Reaves 0-2; Mike Barber 0-3; Bobby Leonzo 0-3), St.
Joseph's (Me.) 5-15 (Alberto Rue 4-5; Mitch Ouellet 1-1; Scot Vachon 0-1;
Elbie Murphy 0-4; Chris Petzy 0-2; Tyler Kelley 0-2). Fouled out--Albertus
Magnus-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. Rebounds--Albertus Magnus 43 (Ray
Askew 11), St. Joseph's (Me.) 41 (Tyler Kelley 8). Assists--Albertus Magnus
5 (Byron Reaves 2; Mike Barber 2), St. Joseph's (Me.) 14 (Elbie Murphy 5).
Total fouls--Albertus Magnus 19, St. Joseph's (Me.) 14. Technical
fouls--Albertus Magnus-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-TEAM. A-350
Saint Joseph's advances to Championship Round