STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's College (16-9, 11-7 GNAC) handled Emerson College (15-10, 13-5 GNAC), 77-44, in GNAC men's basketball action at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Freshman guard Jerome Diggs (Centerville, Va.) was a perfect 5-5 from the floor, including a 4-4 bid from beyond the arc, and netted a game-high 14 points in the lopsided victory.

With the result, Saint Joseph's has claimed the #5 seed in the GNAC Tournament and will face a familiar foe, fourth-seeded Emerson, in Boston at Brown & Plofker Gymnasium in a tourney quarterfinal at 7:00 PM on Tuesday night.

The Monks raced out of the gates and held a 9-2 lead 3:14 into the contest on the heels of a Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) three-pointer and a pair of trifectas from Diggs. Emerson junior guard James Rhodes (Hebron, Conn.) answered with a pair of downtown buckets to make it an 11-8 game with 14:56 left in the first half and the visiting Lions trailed by a 15-12 score after freshman guard Michael Thorpe (Newton, Mass.) converted a four-point play with a three and a freebie at the 13:22 mark.

A Jordan Tripp (Maspeth, N.Y.) layup and a three-pointer from freshman Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) over the subsequent 72 seconds extended the SJC advantage to eight points (20-12) before Rhodes drained his third trey of the half to make it a 20-15 game with 9:57 before the break.

Unfortunately for the Lions, the Rhodes trifecta would be the last field goal the visitors would convert for the remainder of the first period, a 10-minute stretch during which Emerson went 0-8 from the field with four turnovers. In the meantime, the Monks produced 22 unanswered points en route to taking a 42-15 cushion into intermission.

Diggs scored all 14 of his points in the first half and led all scorers at the break. Rhodes paced the Lions, who shot just 19.2% (5-26) from the floor in the opening frame, with nine points in the opening 20 minutes.

Emerson finally broke the scoring drought with a Patrick Lowndes (Granby, Conn.) layup 26 seconds into the latter period, but even the slightest momentum gained by the sophomore forward's bucket was negated when sophomore Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine) nailed a three pointer 23 seconds later.

Saint Joseph's went on to claim a game-high 37-point advantage when sophomore guard Matt Sullivan (West Babylon, N.Y.) hit a jump shot off a James Philbrook (Auburn, Maine) feed at the 8:58 mark.

A variety of SJC players joined in the scoring barrage, as 13 Monks scored at least one point in the victory. Medeiros netted 12 with three assists, Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) added seven points and seven boards, Krubiel Workie (Denver, Colo.) contributed seven points, four caroms and four dimes and Tripp and Luschenat chipped in with six points apiece on the afternoon. Also, freshman guard Jake Downing (Simsbury, Conn.) registered his first NCAA points with a three-pointer late in the game.

Rhodes led the Lions with nine points and Jon Goldberg (Stowe, Vt.) added five points and five rebounds in a losing effort.

Overall, the Monks shot 52.9% (27-51) from the floor, 56.5% (13-23) from downtown and 66.7% (10-15) from the line while the Lions shot 28.8% (17-59) from the field, 28% (7-25) from three-point land and 75% (3-4) from the FT line on the afternoon.

With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 7-4 in the history of the series with Emerson College and has now defeated the Lions in seven straight meetings. The Monks' 33-point winning margin is the largest this season and the most since the Royal Blue toppled Mount Ida College by 36 (79-43) in a GNAC Tournament quarterfinal at the Alfond Center on February 21st, 2012.

Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.