STANDISH, ME - Rivier College (5-3, 2-1 GNAC) defeated Saint Joseph's (9-3, 3-2), 72-66, in a conference matchup at the Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Monks sophomore forward Chris Davis (New York, NY) netted a game and season-high 22 points in the loss. Nick Bean ‘11 (East Longmeadow, MA) paced the victors with 18 points and made four three-pointers.

Elbie Murphy ‘09 (Loudonville, NY) went 3-5 from beyond the arc and notched 15 points and six rebounds and Ray Eatmon ‘10 (Huntington, NY) had nine points and five boards in the loss. Zach O'Brien ‘12 (Schenectady, NY) scored eight points and grabbed eight caroms while Scot Vachon ‘09 (Schenectady, NY) dished out nine assists for the Monks.

It was a two-possession game until Murphy sank a baseline three-pointer to provide the Monks with a seven-point cushion, 24-17, with 8:37 remaining in the opening stanza, but Rivier outscored St. Joe's 11-6 to close the half and trailed by two, 30-28, at the break.

Rivier started the second half off on a roll. D.J. Poitras ‘11 (Bow, NH) and Felipe Lima ‘09 (Nashua, NH) both converted three-point plays two minutes into the second half to provide the Raiders with a 34-30 lead. The plays were the beginning of a 15-5 run for Rivier that was capped by a Bean jumpshot and provided the Raiders with a 43-35 edge with 16:15 to play.

St. Joe's responded by scoring on four consecutive possessions to record an 8-0 surge and tie the game at 43-43 with 14:26 remaining. In the subsequent three minutes, Bean made treys on consecutive possessions and scored eight straight points for the Raiders to lift his squad to a 51-43 advantage.

The Monks managed to tie the game at 53-apiece four minutes later when Davis drove the lane for a basket. The teams swapped scores while Davis continued to have the hot hand, scoring four points on the next two SJC possessions to help maintain the lead, which stood at 59-57 with 4:39 left.

The lead wouldn't last long, however. On the Raider's next trip down the floor, Kevin Harrington ‘09 (Center Ossipee, NH) got an open look and drained a three-pointer and Bean drained a trey 45 seconds later as Rivier jumped out to a 63-59 lead.

Harrington scored at the 1:33 mark to give the Raiders a 66-61 edge, but Murphy made a long three 20 seconds later to cut the deficit to two points with slightly more than a minute to go.

Raiders guard Joe Granato ‘12 (Arlington, MA) proceeded to hit a clutch three-pointer with 47 ticks on the clock and grabbed a loose ball for a fast break basket 11 seconds later to put his team up by seven, 71-64, with just 36 seconds to play. The lead proved too much for the Monks to overcome with short time remaining, as the Raiders went on to earn a hard-fought 72-66 conference win.

For the Raiders, Lima scored 14 points and Harrington netted 10 points. The Rivier shooters, 26-53 (49.1%) from the floor, went 6-13 (46.2%) from beyond the arc in the second half and 8-20 (40%) overall. While the Monks held a decided 45-30 advantage over the Raiders in rebounds - with a season-high 23 offensive boards, the SJC shooters managed a paltry 18.8% (3-16) effort on three-point attempts and a 38.2% (26-68) performance from the field in the loss.

Saint Joseph's will travel to Providence, RI to take on Johnson and Wales University on Tuesday, January 13th in a 7:00 PM conference contest while Rivier is set to host GNAC foe Suffolk University on Tuesday at 7:30 PM.


Rivier College vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
01/10/09 3:00 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
RIVIER COLLEGE 72, ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 66
RIVIER COLLEGE (5-3, 2-1 GNAC)
Nick Bean 7-11 0-0 18; Felipe Lima 4-9 5-7 14; Kevin Harrington 4-7 0-0 10;
Dj Poitras 3-7 3-3 9; Joe Granato 2-7 2-3 7; Luke Brownell 2-3 1-2 5; Mark
Williams 2-3 1-2 5; Lance Bisson 2-5 0-0 4; Matt Nims 0-1 0-0 0; John
Murdock 0-0 0-0 0; Garon Whitney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 12-17 72.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (9-3, 3-2 GNAC)
Chris Davis 9-13 4-6 22; Elbie Murphy 5-13 2-2 15; Ray Eatmon 4-7 1-4 9;
Zach O'Brien 3-8 2-2 8; Mitch Ouellet 1-2 2-2 4; Tyler Kelley 2-11 0-0 4;
Scot Vachon 1-4 0-0 2; Alberto Rue 1-4 0-0 2; Chris Petzy 0-5 0-0 0; R. J.
Mattison 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-68 11-16 66.
Rivier College................ 28 44 - 72
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 30 36 - 66
3-point goals--Rivier College 8-20 (Nick Bean 4-8; Kevin Harrington 2-3;
Felipe Lima 1-3; Joe Granato 1-5; Lance Bisson 0-1), St. Joseph's (Me.) 3-16
(Elbie Murphy 3-5; Zach O'Brien 0-2; Mitch Ouellet 0-1; Tyler Kelley 0-3;
Alberto Rue 0-3; Chris Petzy 0-1; Chris Davis 0-1). Fouled out--Rivier
College-Lance Bisson, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. Rebounds--Rivier College 30
(Nick Bean 5), St. Joseph's (Me.) 45 (Zach O'Brien 7). Assists--Rivier
College 16 (Lance Bisson 8), St. Joseph's (Me.) 18 (Scot Vachon 9). Total
fouls--Rivier College 17, St. Joseph's (Me.) 17. Technical fouls--Rivier
College-Lance Bisson, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. A-225