STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (7-5, 3-1 GNAC) surged past Rivier University (2-12, 0-6 GNAC), 80-64, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball contest at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The conference rivals swapped scoring runs midway through the first half, with Rivier taking the first swing on a 15-3 surge spanning three minutes to claim a 17-11 advantage with 12:35 left in the opening frame. Trailing 27-21 with 8:50 before the break, Saint Joseph's closed out the half with an 18-4 outburst and went into intermission with a 39-31 lead.

The Monks extended their lead to 48-33 after freshman John Paul Frazier (York, Maine) hit a pair of three-pointers and grad Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Maine) netted another trifecta in the opening 2:20 of the second stanza. St. Joe's proceeded to hold a double-digit margin for the remainder of the contest.

The hosts went on to claim a game-high 22-point lead (73-51) when Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) made a layup with 5:28 remaining.

STATS OF THE GAME:

The Monks made 14 three-pointers on 30 attempts for a solid 46.7% success rate from downtown…The Raiders countered by shooting 29.6% (8-27) from beyond the arc…St. Joe's also held a 28-16 lead in points in the paint.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Curtis led all players with 23 points on 6-for-9 shooting from three-point distance with four rebounds and three steals
• Frazier recorded 12 points and six boards and was 4-for-7 from downtown
• Senior forward Ashtyn Abbott (Farmingdale, Maine) added 11 points and a pair of caroms
• Foley chipped in with eight points, four assists, and three rebounds
• Sophomore guard Julian Llopiz (Boston, Mass.) contributed seven points off the bench
• Senior forward Drew Shea (Mount Desert Island, Maine) scored four points with six boards and four assists

LEADERS – RIVIER:

• Freshman guard Robinson Baguidy (Goffstown, N.H.) tallied 13 points, six rebounds, three assists, and three steals
• Senior guard Nikolas Pignone (Stoneham, Mass.) added 13 points with three boards and two assists
• Freshman guard Marko Ljushikj (Macedonia) netted 10 points with three caroms and three helpers
• Graduate guard Pharaoh Davis (Plainville, Mass.) chipped in with six points and five boards

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Saint Joseph's is now 25-5 in the history of the series with Rivier University.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will play at Norwich University on Wednesday at 6:00 PM.

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