NEWTON, MA – Saint Joseph's (16-9, 15-3 GNAC) suffered a 77-68 loss to Lasell College (15-10, 12-6 GNAC) in GNAC men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon. The loss snapped the Monks' winning streak at nine games.
Despite the loss, Saint Joseph's remained second in the conference and will host #7 Suffolk University in a GNAC Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday, February 25th at 7:30 PM. #4 Lasell will host #5 Rivier University in other quarterfinal action at 7:00 PM on Tuesday.
Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) paced the Monks with a team-high 22 points and Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) chipped in with 15 points and nine rebounds. Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) and Jerome Diggs (Washington, D.C.) each came off the bench to add nine and eight points respectively. Saint Joseph's struggled from three point territory, converting on 3-16 attempts from behind the arc, but still shot 52% from the floor as well as knocking down 15-22 from the free throw line.
Senior Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led the way for Lasell with 29 points including six three pointers while handing out six assists. Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) added 21 points on 5-9 shooting from three-point territory. Senior Rob Watts (Lafayette, N.J.) tallied seven points and seven rebounds, while classmate Sonny Mello (Fall River, Mass.) came off the bench to add eight points and five rebounds. Junior Mike Vallone (Wallingford, Conn.) added a game-high seven assists along with five rebounds. Lasell used 14 three pointers and 16 offensive rebounds to combat a 40% shooting effort from the field.
Lasell jumped out to an early 10-5 lead behind eight points from Niba and St. Joe's evened the score at 10-10 behind a Jobin layup and three points from Medeiros. The two teams traded scores before Lasell used three straight trifectas to spark a 9-2 run to take a 21-14 edge. The Monks came right back, tying the score at 23-23 and the two sides continued to trade baskets sending the Lasers into the intermission with a 42-39 lead, as Ganesh recorded 15 of the 19 Lasers points.
The Monks opened the second half with six straight points to go up 45-42 but a triple from Watts tied the score at 45-45. The two teams battled through 10 lead changes and five ties over the ensuing ten minutes leaving the score at 64-64 with just under seven minutes on the clock. Lasell built a 70-64 lead with consecutive three pointers from Brock Walters (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Niba and Medeiros drew the Monks back within three at 70-67 with a trifecta of his own with 1:42 to play.
The Lasers missed on their next possession, but an offensive rebound by Mello earned them another possession, and then after a Ganesh miss from three Lasell forced a jump ball on the rebound, retaining the ball on the alternating possession with 36 seconds to play. Saint Joseph's fouled Ganesh on a three point attempt and he converted all three to give Lasell a 73-68 advantage and Lasell closed out the game with four free throws to produce a 77-68 final margin.
COURTESY OF LASELL COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
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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 430-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.
