BOX
SCORE
STANDISH, Maine - The St. Joseph's College men's basketball team
connected on 11-of-20 (55%) of their three-point attempts to beat
Bowdoin on Saturday, 74-70. It is the first win for the Monks over
the Polar Bears since 2003.
The Polar Bears used a 12-0 first-half run to take an 18-7
advantage. Phillips tallied four points, including a dunk on a fast
break, with three rebounds and two blocks during the Bowdoin surge.
The visiting Polar Bears extended their lead to a game-high 16
points, 33-17, with 6:42 left in the first when Kyle Jackson drove
the lane for a layup after Paul Sellew forced a St. Joe's
turnover. Bowdoin carried an eight-point lead, 38-30, into
intermission.
St. Joe's fought back into the game by forcing three
Bowdoin turnovers in the opening two minutes of the second stanza
and trailed by three, 40-37, after Scot Vachon collected a loose
ball and converted a layup at the 17:53 mark. Although Bowdoin led
by at least six points for the following 12 minutes, St.
Joe's managed to stay in the game with the help of a 57.7%
(15-26) shooting effort in the second half. With under four minutes
left, Elbie Murphy drained a long three-pointer to knot the game at
66 apiece. Zach O'Brien provided the Monks with their first
lead in over 33 minutes of play with a jumpshot and, on the
following SJC possession, Kelley drained his fifth three-pointer of
the contest to provide his team with a five-point cushion, 71-66,
with 1:47 to play.
The Bowdoin press defense yielded a pair of SJC turnovers in the
final minute, but the Polar Bears were unable to capitalize as
Saint Joseph's went 3-4 from the charity stripe en route to a
74-70 victory over the visitors.
Both teams displayed strong shooting efforts in the evenly
matched contest, as Saint Joseph's shot 51.0% (26-51) from
the field to edge the 50.9% (29-57) effort from Bowdoin. The
visitors held a commanding 36-20 edge in rebounds, but the
three-point shooting proved to be the difference in the game, as
the Monks netted 11 of 20 treys while the Polar Bears made just
four of 15 bids from beyond the arc in the losing effort.
Mark Phillips led Bowdoin with 15 points and six rebounds while
Tim Lane notched 10 points for the Polar Bears. Kelley led all
players with 22 points, including five three-pointers.
