#3 Saint Joseph's College (19-7, 12-6 GNAC)
vs.
#7 Albertus Magnus College (14-12, 9-9 GNAC)

Saint Joseph's is 19-7 after defeating Rivier College, 85-67, in a GNAC quarterfinal game on Tuesday at the Alfond Center. Sixth-year Head Coach Rob Sanicola ‘99 guided the third-seeded Monks to a 12-6 conference record and has witnessed his team surrender a league-best 68.6 points per game on average this season. Tyler Kelley ‘11 (Saco, ME) led the Royal Blue with 16 points in the victory over Rivier. The sophomore sharpshooter made all four of his attempts from beyond the arc and leads the GNAC with a 51.6% (49-95) success rate from three-point distance. Ray Eatmon ‘10 (Huntington, NY) paces five SJC players who average 9.0 PPG or more with a 12.8 PPG output. The junior also leads the team in rebounding (9.5 RPG) and field goal percentage (59.5%, 128-215). Eatmon's 229 caroms through 26 games places him in a tie with Marcus Smith ‘92 for the 11th highest total by a Monks player in a season, and he is 21 boards shy of being the fourth player in program history to grab 250 boards in a campaign.

Seventh-seeded Albertus Magnus trounced #2 seed Emerson College on Tuesday, 78-50, and is 14-12 overall this year under second-year Head Coach Mitch Oliver. Byron Reaves ‘12 (Hamden, CT) scored 17 points to lead the Falcons, 9-9 in conference contests this season, in the quarterfinal upset win over Emerson. AMC out-rebounded the Lions 49-29, with 38 defensive caroms, and limited the Emerson shooters to a 28.6% rate from the floor. Francisco Cordova ‘09 (Windsor, CT) averages 13.6 points per contest to lead four Falcons who net better than nine points a game and teammate Ray Askew ‘12 (Hamden, CT) is putting up 13.1 points and 8.5 boards per game in his rookie season. Coming into tonight's game, Albertus Magnus is riding a four game winning streak. The Falcons have routed their opponents by an average of 16.5 points during the stretch.

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. Elbie Murphy ‘09 (Loudonville, NY) dropped a game-high 24 points for St. Joe's, while Cordova led the Falcons with 21 points and Askew gathered 19 rebounds in defeat. Saint Joseph's is 4-0 against Albertus Magnus in the history of the matchup.

GNAC Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket

Monks Basketball Statistics

Falcons Basketball Statistics