STANDISH, ME - Saint Josephs' College Men's Basketball Head Coach Rob Sanicola '99 led his team to another successful season last winter, as the Monks went 18-9 overall and 13-5 versus Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opponents during the 2011-12 campaign.

The GNAC record earned the Royal Blue the #2 seed in the conference tournament, which began for the Monks with a convincing 79-43 quarterfinal victory over #7 Mount Ida College at the Harold Alfond Center on February 21st. Unfortunately, the season came to a premature close two days later in the semifinal round when Saint Joseph's fell to #6 Anna Maria College by a 60-59 margin at home.

The loss, the third at the hands of the AMCATS with all three being by seven or fewer points, signaled the end of collegiate basketball for the Monks' four seniors: Zach O'Brien (Schenectady, N.Y.), Chris Petzy (Kensington, N.H.), Tom Ray (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and Spenser Adams (North Yarmouth, Maine), a group that helped lead the Monks to 78-32 (.709) overall record - the best win rate by an SJC Men's Basketball senior class since 2001 - and a 54-18 (.750) conference mark, since they arrived on campus in 2008.

The 2011-12 team recorded the 36th winning season in the 41-year history of the men's basketball program and five of the Monks' nine setbacks came by five or fewer points last winter. The 2011-12 squad also broke the SJC single-season free throw percentage record by a wide margin, as the team shot a collective 76.4% (333-436) from the charity stripe last year.

The Monks opened the season with four consecutive victories against in-state opponents, including an opening-night 57-47 win at Maine-Farmington on November 16th. O'Brien scored a game-high 19 points and Petzy added 13 in the triumph. Six nights later, St. Joe's tipped Bowdoin College, 70-68, behind a 33-point effort from Petzy and the Royal Blue required overtime to defeat Southern Maine, 61-59, at home on November 27th to retain possession of the Costello Cup for the fourth year in a row.

Three nights later, Petzy netted 31 points in a 70-58 victory over Husson University and, with a three-pointer 13:40 into the contest, became the 35th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. The Monks went on to host eventual GNAC champion Albertus Magnus College on December 3rd and, despite receiving a game-high 20 points from O'Brien, fell short and suffered their first loss of the season by a 77-72 margin.

St. Joe's evened its conference record at 1-1 with a 78-63 win over Lasell College at the Alfond Center on December 8th and headed into Christmas Break with a 6-1 overall record after cruising past GNAC foe Suffolk University, 84-67, in Boston two days later.

The Monks returned to the hardwood on New Year's Eve when the Royal Blue suffered a hard-fought 68-58 loss at WPI and fell to Becker College, 72-69, two days later, dropping consecutive games for the first time all season despite putting forth solid efforts in both contests.

The team would rebound from the two-game setback streak however, as the Monks went on to win four straight conference tilts and seven of the next eight overall.

The successful stretch began with a 56-51 win at Emmanuel College on January 7th. The game was closely contested throughout but the Monks, led by sophomore center Clark Noonan (Bangor, Maine) – who tallied eight points, 10 boards and three helpers – managed to hold off the Saints and get back on the winning track.

Three days later, Saint Joseph's traveled to Newton, Massachusetts to take on GNAC-rival Lasell College. The Monks managed to dispose of the Lasers by a 73-64 score with the help of 23 points from O'Brien and sophomore forward Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) netted 17 in the winning effort, which saw the Royal Blue improve to 8-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

St. Joe's returned home on January 14th to face off against Norwich University in a contest that turned out to be a laugher in the Monks' favor. Three SJC players reached double-digits in points in the 63-32 wallop and the point tally allowed was the fewest scored by a Saint Joseph's opponent in over 14 years.

The Monks went on to notch their fourth-consecutive win with a 60-41 triumph over Mount Ida College two days later. O'Brien poured in a game-high 19 points and Petzy added 17 versus the Mustangs.

Unfortunately the win streak would end in a hard-fought contest against Emmanuel at home on January 19th. Jobin enjoyed a career-night with 22 points in just 21 minutes, but the effort was for naught as the visiting Saints out-rebounded the Monks by a 42-30 margin en route to scoring 46 points in the paint in an upset 69-67 victory over Saint Joseph's.

O'Brien put the Monks on his back by scoring a career-high 35 points in an 83-71 triumph over Johnson & Wales University on January 21st. The victory pushed Saint Joseph's to an 11-4 overall mark and a 7-2 record in GNAC play.

The Monks went on to post a pair of convincing victories at home versus conference-rivals Mount Ida College and Suffolk University over the following week, but the three-game streak came to a close when Anna Maria College tipped Saint Joseph's by a 53-50 margin at the Alfond on January 30th.

St. Joe's worked past a newly-revamped Emerson College squad, led by former Ohio State Head Coach Jim O'Brien, in a 62-52 victory at home on February 2nd. But the winning sentiment was fleeting as The Monks once again fell to Anna Maria, this time on the road by a 61-54 deficit, two days later to fall to 14-6 overall and 10-4 in GNAC contests.

Unflappable, Saint Joseph's proceeded to record three straight conference wins over the following week of play. First up was a trip to Norwich on February 7th, when the Monks skated past the Cadets by a 79-65 margin with the help of 22 points from Petzy. St. Joe's trekked to Rivier College two days later and defeated the Raiders, 73-61, as O'Brien and sophomore Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) netted 22 points apiece.

Saint Joseph's hosted Rivier just two days later in what was one of the most exciting games of the season. The final regular-season home game of the year, the Monks held a short Senior Day ceremony to honor the program's four seniors before battling the Raiders in a game that featured 11 lead changes and seven tie scores. St. Joe's would come out on top in the end, as O'Brien hit a floater with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift his team to a 56-54 win.

The Monks' three-game win streak came to an end on February 14th when the Royal Blue suffered a 76-49 loss at Bates College and Saint Joseph's fell to Albertus Magnus College, 75-62, in a meaningless conference contest four days later to fall to 17-8 overall and 13-5 in GNAC play. O'Brien netted 26 versus Albertus and became the ninth player in program history to surpass the 1,500-point plateau in the setback.

With the regular season in the books, Saint Joseph's moved to the "second season" as the #2 seed in the GNAC Tournament and hosted #7 Mount Ida in a quarterfinal contest on February 21st. Clicking on all cylinders, the Monks cruised past the Mustangs, 79-43, as 14 different players scored points in the one-sided win. Freshman forward Zach Blodgett (Glenburn, Maine) led the way with 12 points to help St. Joe's move to the semifinal round.

The GNAC Tournament semifinal bout versus #6 Anna Maria College two days later was hotly-contested, but the Monks would fall short in a heartbreaking 60-59 loss in front of a packed crowd at the Alfond Center. Saint Joseph's held the lead for the vast majority of the evening, but the AMCATS hit several key shots down the stretch to earn the victory.

The loss abruptly closed the collegiate careers of the Monks' four seniors: O'Brien, Petzy, Ray and Spenser Adams (North Yarmouth, Maine) – a group that helped the Royal Blue post a 78-32 (.709) overall record and a 54-18 (.750) mark versus GNAC opponents over the past four seasons.

NOTEWORTHY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

• O'Brien paced the Royal Blue in scoring (17.3 PPG), rebounding (4.6 RPG), field goals made (175), field goals attempted (399), free throws made (76), free throws attempted (97), rebounds (125), and points (466) and garnered First Team All-GNAC and First Team All-State honors following the season. The two-year team captain capped his career ranked fourth in program history in free throw percentage (.785), seventh in field goals made (585) and attempted (1277), 8th in points (1533), 10th in three-pointers attempted (293), 11th in assists (365), 15th in free throws made (252) and assists average (3.4 APG), and 17th in scoring average (14.5 PPG).
• Petzy led the team in three-pointers made (63) and free throw percentage (.859, 61-71) and ranked second on the squad in scoring (14.7 PPG), field goals made (114), field goals attempted (271), three-point percentage (.399, 63-158), and points (352). He earned Second Team All-GNAC and Second Team All-State honors following the season and closed out his career as the program's all-time leader in free throw percentage (79.3%). He is also currently ranked second in three-point field goal percentage (42.1%), tied for second in in three-pointers made (199), third in threes attempted (473), and 17th in points (1287).
• Medeiros enjoyed a breakout season, averaging 11.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 40% (62-155) from three-point distance. He also finished second on the team in both threes made (62) and attempted (155) as well as free throws made (66), freebies attempted (77) and FT% (85.7%) as a sophomore.
• Jobin averaged 9.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per contest and made 51.8% (85-164) of his shots from the field, the highest success rate on the team, during his second collegiate season.