Saint Joseph’s (ME) Outlasts Men’s Basketball on Saturday

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| Despite a double-double effort from senior Andy Laurent the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team was defeated, 60-54, by Saint Joseph's College of Maine in a non-conference affair inside the Danzi Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss the Golden Eagles slide to 1-7 (1-1 Skyline) on the year as the Monks improve to 4-4.

Junior Stephen Cohen's three-ball 3:35 into the game would put St. Joseph's up 7-6 but it would be the only lead the Golden Eagles held in the contest. The Monks then used a 12-0 run to push ahead 18-7 with 7:42 to play in the half and maintained a similar pace for the remainder of the period to take a 35-21 advantage into the break.

Down 50-34 8:04 into the second half the Golden Eagles scored nine-straight points to draw the game back to within nine (52-43) with 7:00 remaining in regulation.

Later, a Laurent three-pointer cut the SJC deficit to six points (1:32), but Darian Berry's matching three-ball 32 seconds later restored the Monk's nine-point lead and proved to be the dagger that eventually clinched SJC-Maine's 60-54 victory.

Laurent established game-highs in points (21, season-best), rebounds (10) and assists (5) en route to his first double-double of the year.

The only other double-digit scorer for the SJC was senior Fernando Vazquez, who netted 15.

Poor shooting from the field (35.2%) and from the charity stripe (53.3%) inevitably sunk the Golden Eagles, although the hosts did outscore the Monks on the break (15-2).

The Golden Eagles return to action on Friday, December 30 when they face Trinity College in the opening game of the Trinity Holiday Tournament in Hartford, Conn. at 5:00 PM. Live video and stats will be available here.