BOSTON, Mass. – Emmanuel College (16-7, 12-3 GNAC) defeated Saint Joseph's College (12-11, 8-7 GNAC), 82-74, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Saint Joseph's stumbled out of the gates and, after making 7-of-26 shots from the floor in the first frame, faced a 41-22 deficit going into intermission.

The Saints maintained at least a 16-point lead – including a game-high 29-point (67-38) margin with 8:07 left in the second stanza – until the Monks cut the hosts' lead to single digits with a late run. Trailing 74-49 with five minutes remaining, the St. Joe's offense finally started to click to the tune of a 22-4 surge, which was capped with a Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Maine) three-pointer at the 1:08 mark.

Unfortunately for Saint Joseph's, the closing-minutes outbreak proved to be too little, too late as Emmanuel went 4-for-4 from the line in the last 21 seconds to secure the conference victory.

STATS OF THE GAME:

Emmanuel made nearly three times as many free throws as Saint Joseph's (20-7) and held a 30-22 advantage in bench points on the afternoon.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Curtis netted a game-high 20 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting
• Graduate guard Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) scored 16 points with six assists and two steals
• Senior guard Bryton Early (Rollinsford, N.H.) netted 12 points and was 3-for-3 from downtown in just 11 minutes off the bench
• Senior forward Ashtyn Abbott (Farmingdale, Maine) chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds

LEADERS – EMMANUEL:

• Zaire Baines paced the Saints with 16 points after making 10-of-16 FT attempts
• Ted Weber was 5-for-5 from the floor with 15 points and five rebounds
• Ricky Martin netted 12 points with two assists
• Bryant Ciccio contributed 11 points and four assists
• Donte Pope scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the result, Saint Joseph's falls to 21-10 in the history of the series with Emmanuel College.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will host Regis College on Tuesday in a GNAC matchup set to start at 7:30 PM.

$website.include("/bp")