Saints Fall to Hot-Handed Blue Jays

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Saints Men's Basketball (6-10, 2-3 GNAC) was defeated by the University of St. Joseph's (CT) (13-4, 6-0 GNAC) on Tuesday night at James A. Calhoun Gymnasium. With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 6-0 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play and remained in a tie with Albertus Magnus for first place.

A 12-0 run midway through the first half allowed the Blue Jays to open up a 20-point advantage. St. Joseph's shot an impressive 74.2% from the field inside the first 20 minutes, including 8/11 shooting from beyond the arc. The hot-handed home team took a 60-31 lead into the break.

The Saints began the second half looking to chip away at the Blue Jays lead. The advantage had been cut to 22 before a 16-1 run extended the Saints' deficit to 34 with just over 10 minutes left to play. St. Joseph's led by as many as 43 in the second half as the Saints fell on the road 109-68.

Lence Altenor (Everett, Mass.) led the Blue Jays with 20 points on 7/10 shooting. Tyree Mitchell (East Hartford, Conn.) contributed 19 points in the win. Noah Beaudet (Norwood, Mass.) led the Saints with 15 points in 19 minutes. Ryan Grijalva (Stratham, N.J.), Mahari Guerrier (Stoughton, Mass.), Donte Pope (Middletown, Conn.) all reached double-figure scoring in the loss.

Up next, the Blue Jays will host GNAC foe Regis College on Saturday (1/20) at 3 P.M. The Saints return home on Saturday with a GNAC matchup against Mitchell College at 3 P.M.