St. Joseph's (Me.) wins GNAC title (Photo: GNAC) |
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| St.Joseph's College
2008-09 |
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Third-seeded
Saint Joseph's (21-7, 12-6 GNAC) needed overtime to get past #4 Emmanuel (17-11,
12-6) in the GNAC Championship game at 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 (6'4''-F) ‘11 (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 (6'3''-F) ‘09 (Loudonville, NY) with two seconds remaining clinched a
74-72 victory and a GNAC Championship for the Monks.
Chris
Davis (6'4''-F) ‘11 (New York, NY) scored a team-high 16 points in the NCAA
Tournament berth-clinching win.
Raymond Eatmon (6'5''-F-88) '10 (Huntington, NY) and Murphy were named to
the All-Tournament Team and
Scot
Vachon (6'2''-G) ‘09 (Schenectady, NY) received Tournament Most Valuable
Player honors.
Mike
Jackson (5'8''-G) ‘10 (New York, NY) scored a game-high 17 points and
Buchanan added 13 in the losing 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. The overtime contest was the first of the season for the
Monks.
Head Coach
Robert
Sanicola 's 100th career win couldn't have come at a better time, save an
NCAA win, perhaps. The 2009 GNAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, Sanicola
‘99 has guided the Monks to a pair of 20 win seasons in his six years at the
helm and currently owns a .610 (100-64) career winning percentage. The trip to
the NCAA's will be the second for the Saint Joseph's men's basketball program,
as the Monks made their first appearance in 2003, the team's inaugural season as
an NCAA Independent. Coach Sanicola, a former standout player at St. Joe's,
served as an assistant under Head Coach Rick Simonds that year.
NCAA DIII Tournament seedings will be announced on Monday at 11:00 AM on the
NCAA.com website and the complete tourney bracket will be posted shortly
thereafter.
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.
In the early going, the game looked like it was on its way to a blowout.
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.
Andres Bustamante (6'2''-G/F) ‘09 (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 (6'2''-G) ‘10 (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.
Eric
Spanbauer (6'7''-F/C) ‘12 (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 (6'2''-G) ‘12 (East Kingston, NH) scored off a nifty Eatmon dish to
cap the SJC scoring in the first, as the Monks carried a 38-29 advantage into
intermission.
Tyler
Kelley (6'3''-G-89) ‘11 (Saco, ME) assisted on Eatmon and Vachon baskets in
the first 2:18 to help the Monks post a 42-31 lead. Emmanuel forward Isaiah Duke
‘12 (Albany, NY) converted a three-point play 20 ticks later, but a perfectly
placed alley-oop pass from Vachon was finished triumphantly by 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.
Rob
Williams-Hinton (5'11''-G) ‘09 (Oak Park, MI) 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 second 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 (6'1''-G) ‘11 (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 and 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, who stepped out
of bounds, 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 and, with only
two seconds left, lifted the Monks to a GNAC Championship and the program's
second NCAA DIII Tournament berth. After Murphy's clinching bucket, the Saints
took the ball out and hurried down the floor, calling timeout when they passed
midcourt. On a drawn-up inbounds play, Jackson had an open look, but his
three-point bid fell short as the student section rushed the floor to celebrate
with the team.
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 (6'7''-F-87) ‘09 (Fort Kent, ME) added four points and four boards.
For the Saints, Jackson posted a team-high eight rebounds, All-Conference guard
Williams-Hinton added nine points and six caroms, and Spanbauer and
Chris
Puzacke (6'5''-F) ‘11 (Torrington, CT) both had nine points in the losing
effort.
Courtesy: St. Joe's Athletic Communications
Tournament Semifinals:
Albertus Magnus - St. Joseph's (Me.) 64-75
Emmanuel - Lasell 94-91
Tournament Final: Emmanuel - St. Joseph's (Me.)
GNAC All-Tournament MVP:
Scot
Vachon of St. Joe's
GNAC All-Tournament Team
Scot
Vachon of St. Joe's
Raymond Eatmon of St. Joe's
Elbie
Murphy of St. Joe's
Rob
Williams-Hinton of Emmanuel
Mike
Jackson of Emmanuel
Walden St. Juste (6'1''-G) of Albertus Magnus
Jose
Guitian (6'10''-F) Lasell
| All-GNAC 1st Team 2008-09 |
|
Guitian |
Williams-Hinton |
Rouse |
Eatmon |
Shannon |
All-GNAC 1st Team
Rob
Williams-Hinton of Emmanuel
Bryan
Rouse (6'4''-C/F) of Emerson
Jose
Guitian of Lasell
Raymond Eatmon of St. Joseph's (Maine)
Jeremy Shannon (5'11''-G) of Emerson
All-GNAC 2nd Team
Raymond Askew (6'6''-F) of Albertus Magnus
Elbie
Murphy of St. Joseph's (Maine)
Brad
Caravoulias (6'5''-G/F) of Lasell
Mack
Spellman (6'5''-F) of Emmanuel
Lance
Bisson of Rivier
All-GNAC 3rd Team
Francisco Cordova (6'5''-F) of Albertus Magnus
Brian
Small of Suffolk
Matt
Bennett of Mount Ida
Lamonte Thomas of Johnson & Wales
Robert Thurman of Norwich
GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team
Donald Poitras of Rivier
Andrew Crawford (6'3''-F) of Emmanuel
Kevin
Blake of Suffolk
Darren Martinez of Mount Ida
Junior Sainval (6'1''-G) of Lasell
Mike
Filipek of Norwich
Chris
Davis of St. Joseph's (Me.)
Darren Faust of Johnson & Wales
John
Donahue (5'7''-G) of Albertus Magnus
Anthony Remias (5'9''-G) of Emerson
GNAC Player of the Year:
Jose
Guitian of Lasell College
GNAC Defensive Player of the Year:
Jeremy Shannon of Emerson
GNAC Rookie of the Year:
Raymond Askew of Albertus Magnus
GNAC Coach of the Year:
Robert
Sanicola of Saint Joseph's (Maine)
Sanicola
