STANDISH, Maine - #2N Saint Joseph's College (15-11) held off #3S Regis College (14-12), 79-63, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal at the Harold Alfond Center on Tuesday night.
For the Monks, the home GNAC tourney victory is the program's first since 2015 when St. Joe's edged Lasell University in overtime, 84-77, in quarterfinal action.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:
With the win, Saint Joseph's advances to the conference semifinal round for the first time since 2019 and will play at #1S University of Saint Joseph (26-0) in a GNAC second-round matchup on Thursday at 7:00 PM. The #1 nationally ranked Blue Jays crushed #4N Anna Maria College, 101-62, in other quarterfinal action this evening.
For Regis, the loss brings an end to the 2022-23 season.
MILESTONE MET:
With a layup at the 1:01 mark of the second half, graduate guard Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Maine) surpassed the 1,500 career-point mark, becoming just the 11th player in the 52-year history of the SJC men's basketball program to reach the milestone. Curtis entered tonight's game with 1,497 career points.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Pride raced out to a 7-2 lead in the opening three minutes and clung to an 18-17 edge after freshman forward Jamir Harvey (Robbins, Ill.) made a layup with 10:49 left in the first half. The Monks grabbed the lead – for good, as it played out – with a 13-1 run spanning the following four minutes with a Teagan Hynes (York, Maine) trifecta lifting the hosts to a 30-19 advantage.
Saint Joseph's carried a 39-24 lead into halftime and maintained a double-digit cushion for most of the second stanza, but the Pride managed to cut the SJC lead to five points (52-47) after sophomore guard Tate Pike (Bellingham, Mass.) capped an 11-3 surge with a layup at the 11:54 mark.
The Monks immediately went on a run of their own as a 12-3 outbreak provided the hosts with some separation to the tune of a 64-50 lead with 7:01 left. SJC proceeded to hold at least a 13-point lead for the remainder of the contest, but a subpar 51.9% (14-27) free-throw shooting performance in the triumph kept the Pride's hopes alive until three St. Joe's players combined to go 6-for-6 from the line in the final three minutes.
STATS OF THE GAME:
Saint Joseph's nearly doubled the shooting performance put up by Regis, as the Monks shot 53.8% (28-52) overall and the Pride posted a 28.1% (18-64) effort from the field…St. Joe's also shot 50% (9-18) from beyond the arc and held sizeable leads in points in the paint (38-20) and bench points (39-6) on the evening.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Sophomore guard Julian Llopiz (Boston, Mass.) came off the bench to lead all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting, including a 4-for-5 effort from downtown, with five rebounds in 16 minutes
- Senior forward Ashtyn Abbott (Farmingdale, Maine) tallied 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists
- Freshman guard John Paul Frazier (York, Maine) added 11 points and a pair of assists
- Junior guard Camryn Yorke (Auburn, Maine) registered nine points, seven rebounds, and seven assists
- Graduate guard Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) chipped in with eight points, six rebounds, six assists, and a pair of blocked shots
LEADERS – REGIS:
- Harvey led four Pride players in double-digits with 15 points and completed a double-double with 15 rebounds
- Senior guard Justin Evelyn (Uniondale, N.Y.) tallied 14 points, six rebounds, and six assists
- Senior guard Devante Thompson (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and senior forward Zakaria Latifi (Holliston, Mass.) contributed 11 points apiece
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 5-1 all-time versus Regis College, a team the Monks defeated one week ago by a 68-58 margin in Standish.
