Men's Basketball Comeback Falls Just Shy in 75-73 Loss at SJC

STANDISH, Maine – Senior guard Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Maine) and Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) combined to score 43 points to help Saint Joseph's College (6-14, 5-7 GNAC) past Emmanuel College (12-6, 8-4 GNAC), 75-73, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball action on Mike McDevitt Court at the Harold Alfond Center on Thursday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Saint Joseph's held at least a share of the lead for the entire game and boasted an 18-point (26-8) cushion after Foley hit a free throw with 10:29 left in the first half.

The Saints fought back into the fray with an 18-8 run over the following seven minutes and, following a 9-3 run in the two minutes leading up to halftime, trailed by six (41-35) going into intermission.

The Monks maintained the lead in the second half until Emmanuel, trailing 62-53 with 11:09 remaining, rattled off nine unanswered points with a Donte Pope (Middletown, Conn.) three-pointer tying the game at 62-62 with 7:32 on the clock.

St. Joe's quickly countered with eight straight points – five from Foley and three from Curtis – and clung to a seven-point lead (73-66) advantage after Foley hit a pair of freebies with 2:15 to play. Emmanuel answered with five points in a matter of 40 seconds to cut the deficit down to 73-71 and, after Foley made one of two FT bids with 16 seconds left, made it a one-point (74-73) game when Pope converted a layup with four seconds to go.

Sophomore guard Camryn Yorke (Auburn, Maine) gave his team a little breathing room with a 1-for-2 effort at the charity stripe, but the Saints still had the opportunity to at least tie with a last-second heave, but the buzzer-beater attempt was well off the mark.

The victory at home is the first at Mike McDevitt Court for first-year Head Coach Tyler Ackley.

STATS OF THE GAME:

The Monks shot an even 50% (13-26) from three-point distance while the Saints posted a 38.5% (10-26) performance from downtown…St. Joe's posted a 75% (12-16) effort from the FT line – Emmanuel countered by making 5-of-8 from the stripe for a 62.5% clip.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Curtis led all scorers with 23 points off a 6-for-8 three-point shooting performance
• Foley netted 20 points with four assists
• Junior forward Drew Shea (Mount Desert Island, Maine) tallied seven points, eight rebounds, and three assists
• Freshman guard Julian Llopiz (Boston, Mass.) added 10 points off the bench

LEADERS – EMMANUEL:

• Sophomore guard Bryant Ciccio (Attleboro, Mass.) led four Saints in double digits with 18 points
• Sophomore guard Ryan Grijalva (Stratham, N.H.) tallied 16 points and five rebounds off the bench
• Junior guard Ricky Martin (Sicklerville, N.J.) added 15 points, three boards, and two assists
• Pope contributed 14 points, five caroms, three steals, and a pair of assists

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 20-8 all-time versus Emmanuel College, a team that defeated the Monks by an 87-77 score in Boston earlier this season (Jan. 8).

NEXT!

The Saints return to play on Saturday with a road GNAC game against Colby-Sawyer College while Saint Joseph's will play at Norwich University on Saturday in a GNAC contest set for a 1:00 PM tip-off.

Portions of this release courtesy SJC Athletic Communications