STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (18-6, 13-4 GNAC) made 13 three-pointers and shot nearly 60% from beyond the arc in an 81-50 victory over Rivier College (8-16, 5-12 GNAC) at the Harold Alfond Center on Wednesday night. Chris Petzy '12 (Kensington, NH) scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and made four shots from downtown in the lopsided win.

Zach O'Brien '12 (Schenectady, NY) netted 18 for the Monks and drained a trifecta of treys and Tyler Kelley '11 (Saco, ME) was 4-6 from beyond the arc and tallied 14 points with a career-high 5 steals. Rashon Jones '11 (Bridgeport, CT) rounded out a quartet of SJC players in double-digits with 12 points and added 8 caroms and 6 assists and Ray Eatmon '10 (Huntington, NY) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and added 6 points for St. Joe's.

Nick Bean '11 (E. Longmeadow, MA) led the Raiders with 14 points and Brian Troy '13 (Keene, NH) chipped in with 9 in the loss. Don Poitras '11 (Bow, NH) added 8 points, 7 boards and 8 blocked shots for the visitors.

Both teams started off cold, as the GNAC rivals combined for a 2-15 effort from the field in the opening four minutes. O'Brien got the Monks going with a three-pointer that provided the hosts with a 5-3 advantage at the 15:59 mark and Julio Vazquez '13 (Waterbury, CT) pushed the Monk lead to 7-3 51 seconds later with a soft-touch layup after grabbing a loose ball at midcourt.

The Raiders proceeded to go on a 10-4 run over the next four minutes and held a 15-11 cushion after Poitras converted a layup at the 11:33 mark. The SJC shooters went on to make five consecutive three-pointers, which accounted for the majority of a 16-3 outburst that changed the complexion of the game for good. Saint Joseph's led for at least 10 points for the remainder of the contest and pushed its lead to a first-half high of 17 points when Jones collected an offensive carom for a put-back with 32 seconds left in the period.

The Monks carried a 46-31 advantage into intermission, as O'Brien led all scorers with 13 in the opening stanza. Bean and Poitras paced the Raiders with 8 first-half points. St. Joe's shot 58.3% (7-12) from three-point range in the first half and actually improved the downtown success rate in the second stanza with a 60% (6-10) effort.

Although Rivier managed to cut the deficit to 10 points, 51-41, with an offensive flurry early in the second half, St. Joe's weathered the storm with the help of a 10-0 blanking that lasted just over two minutes and gave the home team a 64-43 cushion with 11:55 to go.

Saint Joseph's pushed its lead to a game-high 32 points with an Eatmon bucket at the 1:51 mark and skated to an 81-50 triumph over the Raiders.

St. Joe's shot 45.6% (31-68) overall, 59.1% (13-22) from three-point range, and 85.7% (6-7) from the line, while Rivier shot 37% (20-54) from the floor, 28.6% (6-21) from beyond the arc and 44.4% (4-9) from the charity stripe. The Monks held a commanding 45-28 advantage on the glass and registered 25 assists on 31 field goals.

St. Joe's attained several season-highs in the win, including FG attempts (68), fewest points allowed (50) and largest margin of victory (31), which was the most since St. Joe's topped Suffolk, 86-51, on February 5th last season.

As a team, the Raiders recorded 10 blocks, which is the most by an SJC opponent this season.

Eatmon corralled his 200th rebound in the victory and became the 8th player in team history to grab at least 200 caroms in two different seasons at St. Joe's.

Both teams will host GNAC opponents in their final regular-season contests on Saturday. Saint Joseph's, currently third in the standings, will host Mount Ida College (15-9, 10-7 GNAC) on Saturday at 1:00 PM, while Rivier is set to take on Lasell College at 1:00 PM.

Newspaper Box Score
Rivier vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
02/17/10 7:00 PM at Alfond Center, Standish, Maine
At Alfond Center, Standish, Maine
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 81, RIVIER 50
RIVIER (8-16, 5-12 GNAC)
Nick Bean 5-14 1-2 14; Brian Troy 3-9 0-0 9; Don Poitras 4-8 0-0 8; Will
Snider 2-4 1-1 5; Mike Polley 2-2 0-2 4; Luke Brownell 2-5 0-0 4; Garon
Whitney 1-4 1-2 3; Elisha Robinson 1-5 0-0 2; Bryant Mills 0-3 1-2 1. Totals
20-54 4-9 50.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (18-6, 13-4 GNAC)
Chris Petzy 6-10 3-3 19; Zach O'Brien 7-15 1-1 18; Tyler Kelley 5-10 0-0 14;
Rashon Jones 4-9 2-3 12; Alberto Rue 3-8 0-0 6; Ray Eatmon 3-12 0-0 6; Julio
Vazquez 1-2 0-0 2; Tom Ray 1-1 0-0 2; Eric Friend 1-1 0-0 2; Craig Merrick
0-0 0-0 0; Anthony Savino 0-0 0-0 0; Jack LaFreniere 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-68
6-7 81.
Rivier........................   31   19  -   50
St. Joseph's (Me.)............   46   35  -   81
3-point goals--Rivier 6-21 (Nick Bean 3-9; Brian Troy 3-7; Will Snider 0-1;
Garon Whitney 0-2; Bryant Mills 0-2), St. Joseph's (Me.) 13-22 (Tyler Kelley
4-6; Chris Petzy 4-6; Zach O'Brien 3-5; Rashon Jones 2-3; Alberto Rue 0-2).
Fouled out--Rivier-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. Rebounds--Rivier 28 (Don
Poitras 7), St. Joseph's (Me.) 45 (Ray Eatmon 13). Assists--Rivier 14 (Will
Snider 6), St. Joseph's (Me.) 25 (Rashon Jones 6). Total fouls--Rivier 12,
St. Joseph's (Me.) 9. Technical fouls--Rivier-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None.
A-228