STANDISH, ME - Elbie Murphy '09 (Loudonville, NY) netted 15 points and Chris Petzy '12 (East Kingston, NH) added 14 off the bench to lift Saint Joseph's (7-2, 2-1 GNAC) past Bates College (3-4), 68-65, on Tuesday night at the Alfond Center. Chris Wilson ‘10 (Brewer, ME) made four three-pointers and scored 14 points to lead the Bobcats in the losing effort.

The evenly matched teams exchanged leads seven times and neither squad held a lead of more than six points in the second half.

Wilson scored five points in the first four minutes of the contest to help provide the Bobcats with a 9-0 lead out of the gate. The SJC shooters missed seven consecutive shots to start the game before Tyler Kelley ‘11 (Saco, ME) snapped the slump with a jumper at the 16:12 mark.

Murphy collected a loose ball and drove for a layup to cap a minute-long span where he scored eight consecutive points for the Monks and cut the Bates lead to 15-10 with 12:27 to play in the first half.

Bates converted their next three possessions, with two jumpers off the hand of Brian Ellis ‘11 (Braintree, MA), while St. Joe's countered with a Chris Davis ‘11 (New York, NY) hoop to make the score 21-12, Bobcats.

St. Joe's took control for the remainder of the first half, led by Petzy's eight points, and posted an 18-4 run to bring the opening stanza to a close with a 30-25 lead. Bates shot just 2-13 and committed five turnovers in the last 10 minutes and the Monks scored 16 points off 11 Bobcat turnovers, overall, in the first half.

The Monks shot 2-7 in the opening five minutes of the second half while the visiting Bobcats countered with a 4-5 performance to knot the game at 34 apiece. For the next four minutes the teams swapped leads, with neither club holding more than a four point advantage.

After Murphy grabbed his second steal of the game and proceeded to drive home a dunk on a fast break to tie the game at 45-45 with 10:48 to play, Bates managed a short offensive burst and outscored St. Joe's 9-3. Scott Place ‘09 (Bridgewater, MA) capped the microburst with a jump shot to give the Bobcats their largest lead, 54-48, since the halfway point of the first half.

In the subsequent four minutes, the Monks rebounded with a pair of three-point plays by Davis and Petzy and a three-pointer by Kelley to counter treys made by Place and Wilson to make it a two-point deficit, 60-58, with 4:58 left.

Zach O'Brien 12 (Schenectady, NY) and Davis collected baskets on the next two SJC possessions to give the Monks a 62-60 lead with 2:32 to play, but Jimmy O'Keefe 10 (Lexington, MA) took a pass from Ellis to make a wide-open layup and tie the game at 62 twenty seconds later.

Two free throws from Murphy, a slick layup by O'Brien and a freebie from Petzy saw the Monks take a five point lead, 67-62, with ten seconds to go in regulation. Bobcats guard Marshall Hatch ‘10 (Chicago, IL) dampened the mood of the Royal Blue faithful with a long-range three-pointer to make it a one-possession game yet again. Place fouled Murphy on the inbounds pass with two-tenths of a second remaining, but the senior drained both FT shots to dash the Bobcats' hopes of pulling off a miracle.

Ray Eatmon ‘10 (Huntington, NY) tallied 10 points and eight rebounds and Kelley made both three-point attempts and also netted 10 points in the SJC victory. Besides scoring a game-high 15 points, Murphy dealt five assists, was 6-7 from the charity stripe and grabbed two steals while Davis scored nine points in the victory.

Sean Wirth ‘10 (Barrington, RI) posted a double-double effort for the Bobcats with 11 points and 11 boards and Place scored 10 points in the losing effort.

After a 35.3% performance from the field in the first half, Bates shot to a 55.2% tune in the closing stanza and was 7-14 from three-point range in the contest. The Bobcats outrebounded the Monks, 38-27, but managed to get to the free-throw line just four times in the game and converted two of those attempts.

St. Joe's also rebounded from a poor first half shooting effort (36.7%) and drained 60.9% of their field goal attempts in the second half. The Monks put forth a respectable 14-19 performance from the line and grabbed 10 steals in the victory.

Saint Joseph's will host Bowdoin College on January 3rd in a 3:00 PM contest while Bates is set to host Husson University on Friday at 7:00 PM.

Newspaper Box Score
Bates College vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
12-16-08 7:30 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 68, BATES COLLEGE 65
BATES COLLEGE (3-4)
Chris Wilson 5-16 0-0 14; Sean Wirth 5-7 1-1 11; Scott Place 4-7 0-0 10;
Marshall Hatch 4-6 0-0 9; Brian Ellis 4-11 0-0 8; Ben Thayer 2-4 0-0 4;
Jimmy O'Keefe 2-5 0-0 4; Alex Gallant 1-4 0-1 2; Nick Schmiemann 1-3 0-0 2;
Kyle Philbrook 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 28-63 2-4 65.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (7-2)
Elbie Murphy 4-6 6-7 15; Chris Petzy 5-8 3-4 14; Tyler Kelley 3-7 2-2 10;
Ray Eatmon 5-8 0-2 10; Chris Davis 3-7 3-3 9; Zach O'Brien 3-7 0-0 6;
Alberto Rue 1-3 0-1 2; Scot Vachon 1-3 0-0 2; Mitch Ouellet 0-3 0-0 0;
Anthony Savino 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-53 14-19 68.
Bates College................. 25 40 - 65
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 30 38 - 68
3-point goals--Bates College 7-14 (Chris Wilson 4-7; Scott Place 2-4;
Marshall Hatch 1-2; Brian Ellis 0-1), St. Joseph's (Me.) 4-11 (Tyler Kelley
2-2; Chris Petzy 1-3; Elbie Murphy 1-2; Zach O'Brien 0-1; Alberto Rue 0-2;
Mitch Ouellet 0-1). Fouled out--Bates College-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None.
Rebounds--Bates College 38 (Sean Wirth 11), St. Joseph's (Me.) 27 (Ray
Eatmon 8). Assists--Bates College 11 (Scott Place 4), St. Joseph's (Me.) 16
(Elbie Murphy 5). Total fouls--Bates College 20, St. Joseph's (Me.) 13.
Technical fouls--Bates College-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. A-265