STANDISH, Maine – Junior guard Julian Llopiz (Boston, Mass.) netted 15 points to lead five Monks in double digits and lift Saint Joseph's College (6-8, 2-1 GNAC) past Colby-Sawyer College (4-9, 0-2 GNAC), 77-71, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball contest on Mike McDevitt Court at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Colby-Sawyer held a team-high eight-point (29-21) advantage after junior guard Mike Joanou (Burbank, Calif.) hit a jumper with 1:47 before the break. The Monks – who shot just 24.2% (8-33) from the field in the first 20 minutes - salvaged an uneven first half with eight unanswered points as freshman guard Pitia Donato (Portland, Maine) made a layup to tie the game 29-29 going into intermission.
Sophomore guard John Paul Frazier (York, Maine) went 3-for-6 from three-point range with nine points in the first half while junior guard Chaz Cullum (Omaha, Neb.) paced the Chargers with eight points in the opening frame.
The conference counterparts swapped the lead four times in the opening minutes of the second stanza. The Monks claimed the final swing to the tune of a 12-2 run, a surge that included six points from sophomore Wani Donato (Portland, Maine), to build a 44-35 lead with 15:29 left to play.
Saint Joseph's proceeded to secure the game's first double-digit lead when Llopiz hit a three to give his team a 56-46 advantage with 10:41 remaining and held a game-high 14-point (66-52) cushion after Wani Donato tapped in a layup with 6:20 on the game clock.
The pesky Chargers refused to go down easily however, as the visitors mounted a 12-2 run in the final 90 seconds to cut their deficit to 75-71 with 10 seconds remaining. The effort proved to be too little, too late as the hosts kept the visitors at bay with the help of an 8-for-8 FT shooting effort in the last two minutes.
STATS OF THE GAME:
St. Joe's shot over 30 percentage points higher in the second half with 55.6% (15-27) clip from the floor latter frame…The Monks went 22-for-31 from the FT line while the Chargers made 8-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Llopiz was 6-for-7 from the FT line with 15 points, five rebounds, and a pair of assists
- Grad forward Ashtyn Abbott (Farmingdale, Maine) added 13 points and eight rebounds
- Frazier scored 12 points with five rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a pair of blocks
- Wani Donato chipped in with 12 points, seven boards, and a pair of blocked shots
- Senior guard Camryn Yorke (Auburn, Maine) tallied 12 points, four assists, and three caroms
LEADERS – COLBY-SAWYER:
- Cullum scored a game-high 19 points with five assists, four boards, and two steals
- Sophomore Sadiq Abdullahi (Homestead, Fla.) netted 17 points with six rebounds
- Joanou chipped in with 11 points
- Junior Jaisan Parker (Durham, N.C.) came off the bench to score 10 points with five rebounds, two assists, and a pair of steals
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 6-4 all-time versus Colby-Sawyer College and has now defeated the Chargers in three-consecutive meetings.
NEXT!
The Monks will play at Johnson & Wales University on Wednesday in a GNAC matchup starting at 7:30 PM.
