Men's Basketball Falls to Monks 73-64 in Newton

NEWTON, MA—The Lasell College men's basketball team fell, 73-64, to Saint Joseph's College of Maine in Tuesday night's Great Northeast Athletic Conference matchup at home. With the loss, the Lasers fall to 4-8 overall, 3-2 GNAC, while the Monks advance to 8-3 on the season and 4-1 in conference play.

The Monks raced out to a 23-9 lead over the Lasers at the 11:00 mark after a run of three layups from Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, ME) and a 3-pt field goal from Matthew Madeiros (Westpot, MA). The score would hold until Rob Roy (Dover, NH) put the Lasers on the scoreboard again at 6:58 with a layup.   Nate DiSessa (Westfield, MA) and Sean Bertanza  (Seymore, CT) added a pair of threes from the field for Lasell to bring the score to 28-17. Zach O'Brien (Steep Falls, ME) answered back with a 3-pointer to bump the Monks up to 31-17 with 5:20 remaining. The half then remained scoreless until 2:11 when Don Stephens (West Palm Beach,FL)  and Javon Williams (Mattapan, MA) chipped in a pair of layups.  A Jumper from Dominik Orloff (Slupsk, Poland) added two more for the Lasers. O'Brien answered back, settling the score at 33-23, Saint Joseph's, heading into halftime. 

 The second half opened with more aggressive play from both sides. The Lasers battled back to trail just 49-42 at 10:45, and again to a 60-51 score with 6:16 to go in the game. Four minutes later, DiSessa brought Lasell to within just seven points again, 66-59 at the 2:01 mark.  Clark Noonan (Bangor, ME) hit a layup to boost the Monks, and Arthur Alexander (Port Lucie, FL) sank a free throw to bring the score to 68-60 with just 1:16 remaining.  Saint Joseph's Julio Vasquez (Waterbury, CT) made two free throws and Williams sank a layup with 41 seconds remaining to keep the spread at eight, 70-62. Madeiros tallied two more free throws and DiSessa and Williams answered with one apiece, to bring the score to 72-64 with 25 seconds to go. As the clock ran out, the Monks had time for one more free throw, ending the contest at 73-64.

Saint Joseph's O'Brien and Lasell's Bertanza led the scoring for each team with 23 points apiece. Bertanza shot an impressive five for eleven from behind the arc in the loss.  Williams chipped in with 19 points and nine rebounds for the Lasers.  The Monks shot 54.2% from the field in the contest in relation to Lasell's 38.7%.

The Monks continue their conference road trip on Thursday, January 12, when they will face Rivier at 7:00 p.m. The Lasers also take the court again this Thursday when they host GNAC opponent Johnson & Wales, tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.