SAINTS SUFFER OVERTIME HEART-BREAKER IN GNAC FINALS
Feb. 28, 2009
STANDISH, Maine – The Emmanuel Men’s Basketball Team suffered a heart-breaking, 74-72, overtime loss to Saint Joseph’s College in Saturday’s Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship. The third-seeded Monks (21-7, 12-6 GNAC) needed overtime to get past the fourth-seeded Saints (17-11, 12-6) in the GNAC final played in the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. The Monks held a lead for over 39 minutes in regulation, but a two-pointer from Saints forward Tyrone Buchanan (Detroit, MI) as the final buzzer rang tied the game, sending the title bout into overtime.
The extra frame was knotted at 72-apiece, but a back-door play executed by Elbie Murphy (Loudonville, NY) with two seconds remaining clinched a 74-72 victory and a GNAC Championship for the Monks. This was the Emmanuel program’s second appearance in the GNAC finals. The win for the Monks marks their first-ever GNAC Championship and Saint Joseph will now advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program-history.
Chris Davis (New York, NY) scored a team-high 16 points in the win for St. Joe’s. Ray Eatmon (Huntington, NY) and Murphy were named to the All-Tournament Team and senior Scot Vachon (Schenectady, NY) received Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. For Emmanuel, junior Mike Jackson (New York, NY) and senior Rob Williams-Hinton (Oak Park, Mich.) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Jackson scored a game-high 17 points and Buchanan added 13 in the effort for the feisty Saints. The overtime tournament game was the second straight for visiting Emmanuel. The Saints defeated top-seeded Lasell College in double-overtime in a semi-final game on Thursday to advance to the title match. The upset left Saint Joseph’s, who defeated \#7 Albertus Magnus College in a semi-final the same night, as the top remaining seed, making the unlikely scenario of a \#3 seed hosting the championship a reality.
A near-capacity crowd of 1,184 fans flocked to the Alfond to witness the championship. Saint Joseph’s Head Coach Rob Sanicola, the 2009 GNAC Coach of the Year, notched his 100th career victory with Saturday’s championship win. The trip to the NCAA’s will be the second for Saint Joseph’s, as the Monks made their first appearance in 2003, the team’s inaugural season as an NCAA Independent.
The Saints won the tip-off and secured a 2-0 lead immediately, as Jackson knocked down a jumper 12 seconds in. The Monks followed by blanking the visitors 9-0 in the subsequent 3:25 of play and held a 9-2 advantage after Vachon converted one of his signature drives to the bucket.
Buchanan followed Vachon’s hoop with a three-pointer to make it a 9-5 game, but Saint Joseph’s got four points from Chris Davis in a 9-0 run and led 18-5 with 13:01 to go in the first half. As it played out, the 13-point cushion was the largest of the game for the Royal Blue.
The Saints seemed unfazed by the deficit, and in a workmanlike manner, began to chip away at the deficit. Senior forward Andres Bustamante (Amherst, MA) made a three and Buchanan drilled a jumper to make it a 10-point game, 20-10, with 12:03 to play. SJC guard Alberto Rue (Jamaica Plain, MA) sank a pair of freebies to extend his team’s lead, but the Monks would only score one basket, a layup by Eatmon, in the next four minutes while the Saints fought back with a 12-2 run and trailed 24-22 with 7:27 before the break. Rookie forward Eric Spanbauer (Niagara Falls, NY) and Buchanan combined to net 10 points during the outburst.
St. Joe’s clung to a lead of no more than six points until Rue made his second of two FT attempts to put his team up 34-27 with 2:39 left in the first stanza. The junior guard scored on a fast break a minute later and Chris Petzy (East Kingston, NH) scored off an Eatmon dish to cap the SJC scoring in the first, as the Monks carried a 38-29 advantage into intermission.
Tyler Kelley (Saco, ME) assisted on Eatmon and Vachon baskets in the first 2:18 to help the Monks post a 42-31 lead. Emmanuel’s freshman guard Isaiah Duke (Albany, NY) converted a three-point play 20 ticks later, but a perfectly placed alley-oop pass from Vachon was finished off with a Murphy dunk at the 17:16 mark to put St. Joe’s back up by 10.
For the next 13 minutes, the Monks held a lead of at least six points and were ahead 64-55 after Eatmon took a pass from Murphy and completed a backdoor play with 5:08 left in regulation. Williams-Hinton led the charge in the comeback attempt for the Saints by knocking down jump shots on consecutive Emmanuel possessions, cutting the SJC lead down to 64-59 with 4:10 to play. Chris Davis connected on a jumper of his own 34 seconds later, but Jackson made a three-pointer to bring the Saints within four points of the lead, 66-62, with 3:12 on the clock.
On their next trip down the floor, Williams-Hinton made a pair of free throws after being fouled by Vachon to make it a 66-64 game. Eatmon and Saints guard Tony Carter-Hill (Baltimore, MD) exchanged buckets in the next minute of play and the game appeared to be at hand for St. Joe’s after Bustamante turned the ball over with a double-dribble with 52 seconds remaining.
On the Monks’ final trip down the floor in regulation, Murphy and Eatmon both fired wide on field goal attempts and Buchanan gathered a defensive carom for the Saints with 20 seconds to go. After a timeout, Emmanuel made their way down the floor and Jackson misfired on a three-point bid with three seconds left. Buchanan managed to come down with the rebound near the free throw line, and lofted a shot into the basket just before time expired to launch the electrifying GNAC Championship to an extra frame.
Kelley scored the first hoop of the five-minute overtime period to provide his squad with a 70-68 edge with 3:50 to go. Spanbauer converted a layup 17 seconds later to knot the game and Carter-Hill made a pair of freebies to give the Saints their first lead, 72-70, since the team’s opening drive of the game. Unfortunately for Emmanuel, Spanbauer and Buchanan both fouled out in the opening two minutes of play in overtime. The players, 6’7 and 6’4, respectively, had provided the Saints with solid play in the paint for the majority of the game.
A lackluster effort from the free-throw line in overtime nearly derailed the Monks’ chances of winning the title. St. Joe’s shot just 2-6 from the stripe in OT. Those two freebies were crucial, however, as Eatmon made one of two at the 1:58 mark and Chris Davis did the same 1:11 later to tie the game at 72-apiece with 47 seconds on the game clock. The St. Joe’s defense forced Williams-Hinton to turn the ball over with 16 seconds left to regain possession. On their last trip down the floor, Eatmon dealt a pass to Murphy, who was all alone under the rim. The senior finished the play with an easy bucket. Emmanuel was left with one desperation attempt, but could not connect.
Saint Joseph’s outshot Emmanuel from the field, 46.9% (30-64) to 44.8% (30-67) and held a slight 40-37 advantage on the glass in the victory. Neither team fared well from beyond the arc, as the Monks shot 2-11 (18.2%) and the Saints countered with a 4-14 (28.6%) effort. St. Joe’s recorded 21 assists on 30 field goals.
For the Monks, All-Conference forward Eatmon notched 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Rue had nine points, all in the first stanza, and grabbed a team-best eight caroms, Kelley netted nine points and four assists and Vachon tallied eight points, seven boards and five assists. Murphy chipped in with six points and five assists, Petzy added six points and Mitch Ouellet (Fort Kent, ME) added four points and four boards.
For the Saints, Jackson posted a team-high eight rebounds to go along with his 17 points. First-Team All-Conference guard Williams-Hinton added nine points and six caroms, while Spanbauer and sophomore forward Chris Puzacke (Torrington, CT) both had nine points in the losing effort.
All-Tournament Team:
Scot Vachon (SJC) – Most Valuable Player
Rob Williams-Hinton (Emmanuel)
Mike Jackson (Emmanuel)
St. Juste (Albertus Magnus)
Jose Guitian (Lasell)
Ray Eatmon (SJC)
Murphy (SJC)