Monks Stave Off Lasers, 81-70 in Men's Basketball Action

STANDISH, ME – The Lasell College men's basketball team suffered an 81-70 defeat at St. Joseph's College of Maine on Thursday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. The Lasers dropped to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in league play, while Saint Joseph's College improved to 8-8 for the season and 7-2 in GNAC contests. 

Senior guard Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) paced the Lasers with 19 points, Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.) was 4-8 from downtown and scored 14, Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) added 11 points and six caroms, and Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) tallied nine points and 12 boards in the loss.

Senior Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) certainly had a memorable night, as the 6'6 forward accounted for much of the Monks' offense with a 31-point effort off a 10-19 performance from the floor while shooting 11-12 from the free throw line. He also pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds to record his third-consecutive double-double and fourth of the season. Jobin also made history in the triumph as he became the 37th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark when he converted a conventional three-point play with 5:05 remaining in the second quarter. Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) was 9-9 from the line and scored 18 points, Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine) added seven points, three boards and three assists, Zach Blodgett (Glenburn, Maine) contributed nine points, and James Philbrook (Auburn, Maine) chipped in with six points and five rebounds.

Saint Joseph's nearly led from wire to wire in the important conference contest, as the Lasers' lone lead came on their third possession when sophomore guard Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.) drained a three-pointer 1:44 into play. The Monks answered with nine-consecutive points over the following three minutes and held at least a share of the lead for the remainder of the game.

The first half remained close, however as Lasell maintained a two-possession deficit until O'Brien hit another trifecta at the 5:34 mark to knot the game at 19-apiece. Saint Joseph's proceeded to outscore the Lasers by a 19-6 margin over the closing five minutes - a span during which the Royal Blue made nine of 10 attempts from the charity stripe en route to securing a 38-25 cushion heading into intermission.

The second stanza began in a very similar fashion with the Monks scoring points in bunches. Leading 41-31 after O'Brien dropped another three 23 seconds into the latter half, St. Joe's mustered a 16-2 offensive surge to claim a commanding 57-33 advantage. Jobin capped the run with a bucket at the 14:33 mark and scored 12 of the Monks' first 19 coming out of the locker room.

But the visitors rattled off an impressive run of their own to jump right back into the game. Trailing 62-38 with 11:32 remaining, Lasell rattled off 20 unanswered points during a 4:28 window to cut the deficit to just four points at 62-58 with 7:04 on the clock.

The Monks answered yet again with eight-consecutive points in the subsequent two minutes to give the hosts a 70-58 lead. The Lasers continued to chip away at the lead and would cut the SJC edge down to six (70-64) with 2:46 left when Angel Ortiz converted a rare four-point play, as the junior guard hit a three-pointer, was fouled, and made the free throw to provide his team with one last gasp. The effort would fall short, however as the Monks went 9-9 from the stripe in the closing minutes to seal the victory.

For the Monks, Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) was 9-9 from the line and scored 18 points, Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine) added seven points, three boards and three assists, Zach Blodgett (Glenburn, Maine) contributed nine points, and James Philbrook (Auburn, Maine) chipped in with six points and five rebounds. Jordan Tripp (Maspeth, N.Y.) also played an important role and added four points, four assists and six rebounds in the win.

Both teams host GNAC foes in 3:00 PM starts on Saturday, as Saint Joseph's faces Norwich University and Lasell takes on reigning GNAC Champion Albertus Magnus College.