NEWTON, MA - Lasell College (5-4, 3-0 GNAC) doubled up Saint Joseph's (6-2, 2-1), 40-20, in the second half en route to earning a 80-60 GNAC victory over the visiting Monks on Saturday afternoon. St. Joe's shot just 28% from the floor in the second stanza after playing the Lasers to a 40-40 stalemate in the first half behind a 53.1% effort from the field. Elbie Murphy '09 (Loudonville, NY) scored 14 points and Ray Eatmon '10 (Huntington, NY) gathered 12 rebounds in the Monks' first conference loss of the season.

Lasell was led by Jose Guitian '09 (Miami, FL), who posted a double-double effort with 29 points, off an 11-16 effort from the field, and 12 boards. Brad Caravoulias '09 (Dracut, MA), sank five of nine three-point bids and scored 17 points while Corey Godfrey '11 (Cambridge, MA) scored 11 points, all in the second half, for the Lasers.

The game started off well for the Monks, who mounted an 11-2 lead after converting four straight trips down the court in the first two minutes. Tyler Kelley '11 (Saco, ME) led the charge with a pair of treys and eight points in the SJC offensive surge.

It was certain, however, that Lasell, the 2008 GNAC Champs, would not go down without a battle. This was evident when the Lasers bounced back to make it a one-point game just four minutes later with a 9-2 run led by five points from Guitian.

St. Joe's led nearly the entire first half and relinquished the lead for the first time with 1:17 to go before the break. Caravoulias grabbed a steal to set up Kevin Richard '12 (New Orleans, LA) for the go-ahead layup. Eatmon and Richard swapped layups in the final 10 seconds and Scot Vachon '09 (Schenectady, NY) made a free throw to cap the first half scoring with the GNAC rivals in a 40-40 stalemate.

Guitian carried the Lasers in the first six minutes of the second stanza, when he led a 15-6 run to put his team up by nine, 55-46, with 10 points of his own.

Murphy hit two freebies to cut the Lasell lead to seven, but the Lasers poured in 24 points against just from St. Joe's in the next seven minutes to gain an insurmountable 27 point lead, 79-52, with 5:54 to play. Godfrey netted all 11 of his points in the Lasell run while the Monks where held to a 1-8 shooting performance with four turnovers during the same span.

For the Monks, Mitch Ouellet '09 (Fort Kent, ME) had eight points and five boards and Vachon registered five assists and three steals. Zach O'Brien '12 (Schenectady, NY) and Chris Davis '11 (New York, NY) both chipped in with six points.

Saint Joseph's outworked Lasell on the glass with a 40-32 rebounding edge, but the Monks turned the ball over 22 times against 13 misques by the Lasers.

Lasell shot an even 50% (30-60) from the floor in the game, while the Monks posted a 42.1% (24-57) effort in the loss.

In their last 2008 contest , Saint Joseph's will host Bates College on Tuesday, December 16th at 7:30 PM. Lasell will not hit the hardcourt again until Saturday, January 10th when they play at Albertus Magnus College at 3:30 PM in a GNAC contest.

Newspaper Box Score
St. Joseph's (Me.) vs Lasell College
12/13/08 2:00 p.m. at Newton, Mass.
At Newton, Mass.
LASELL COLLEGE 80, ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 60
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (6-2)
Elbie Murphy 6-9 2-2 14; Tyler Kelley 3-8 0-0 8; Mitch Ouellet 3-5 1-2 8;
Ray Eatmon 3-8 1-3 7; Zach O'Brien 2-6 2-2 6; Chris Davis 3-6 0-1 6; Scot
Vachon 1-4 1-4 3; Bobby Russo 1-2 0-0 3; Chris Petzy 1-2 0-0 3; Tom Ray 1-1
0-0 2; Alberto Rue 0-4 0-0 0; Anthony Savino 0-1 0-0 0; Jay Tutwiler 0-1 0-0
0. Totals 24-57 7-14 60.
LASELL COLLEGE (5-4)
Jose Guitian 11-16 4-7 29; Brad Caravoulias 6-10 0-0 17; Corey Godfrey 5-6
1-1 11; Charles Horton 3-9 1-2 9; Kevin Richard 3-6 0-0 7; Kevin Fallon 1-5
1-2 4; Junior Sainval 1-5 0-0 2; Javon Williams 0-0 1-4 1; Hayden Yeazel 0-1
0-0 0; Jarell Baxter 0-0 0-0 0; Richie King 0-0 0-0 0; Matt Romano 0-2 0-0
0; Joey Vento 0-0 0-0 0; Sean Joynes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-60 8-16 80.
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 40 20 - 60
Lasell College................ 40 40 - 80
3-point goals--St. Joseph's (Me.) 5-13 (Tyler Kelley 2-3; Chris Petzy 1-1;
Mitch Ouellet 1-2; Bobby Russo 1-1; Scot Vachon 0-1; Alberto Rue 0-3; Zach
O'Brien 0-1; Elbie Murphy 0-1), Lasell College 12-31 (Brad Caravoulias 5-9;
Jose Guitian 3-6; Charles Horton 2-7; Kevin Fallon 1-3; Kevin Richard 1-1;
Matt Romano 0-1; Junior Sainval 0-4). Fouled out--St. Joseph's (Me.)-None,
Lasell College-None. Rebounds--St. Joseph's (Me.) 40 (Ray Eatmon 12), Lasell
College 32 (Jose Guitian 12). Assists--St. Joseph's (Me.) 13 (Scot Vachon
5), Lasell College 17 (Charles Horton 5). Total fouls--St. Joseph's (Me.)
14, Lasell College 14. Technical fouls--St. Joseph's (Me.)-None, Lasell
College-None. A-264