Jan. 8, 2011

Box Score

The Emmanuel College men's basketball team got 16 points from senior Tyrone Buchanan (Detroit, Mich.) but was unable to overcome the visiting St. Joseph's College Monks, 81-67 on Saturday afternoon at the Jean Yawkey Center in Boston, Mass. With the loss, the Saints fell to 2-7 on the season while the Monks improved to 6-4.

The Monks grabbed the first basket of the contest early but the Saints responded not long after with their first points of the contest, a jumper from the right by sophomore Xavier Everson (Rochester, N.Y.) before Emmanuel called its first timeout.

Senior Tyler Kelley (Saco, Maine) gave the Monks a three from the corner but Emmanuel responded with a layup under the hoop from junior Isaiah Duke (Albany, N.Y.) and a foul shot to follow. Junior Zach O'Brien (Schenectady, N.Y.) added a three-pointer to give the Monks an 11-7 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the half.

Sophomore Connor Morgan (Chepachet, R.I.) gave the Saints a bucket to pull the hosts to within two and added a three-pointer a moment later after a Monks drive and score. Everson then followed up on a missed shot by Buchanan and freshman D.J. Fazio (Methuen, Mass.) drained a deep three not long after to give the Saints a 17-15 lead, their first edge of the game, with just over eight minutes remaining in the half.

The Monks inched back to the Saints' score when junior Spenser Adams (North Yarmouth, Maine) was found wide open on the left for an easy lay in, but Emmanuel junior Andre Fuller (Troy, N.Y.) grabbed a jump ball to send possession back to the Saints. Fuller then went to the line and hit both free-throws to five Emmanuel a 20-17 lead. Fazio added another long trey with just over five minutes remaining in the half to give the Saints a six-point lead.

St. Joseph's sophomore Julio Vazquez (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a jumper from off to the right of the hoop and his team added two foul shots not long after to make it a two-point game with 3:39 remaining in the half.

The Monks found their way back into the lead not long afterwards, but sophomore Armani Gill (Boston, Mass.) tallied his first points with the Saints to pull within one. Kelley kept the Monks in front, however, by hitting another three-pointer from the left corner to make the score 31-25 with 1:30 remaining in the frame. The Monks held on to the lead and took a 33-25 edge into the break.

O'Brien led all scorers in the first half with 11 points while Duke and Fazio paced the Saints with six points each. Emmanuel led the battle for rebounds with 18 compared to the Monks' 15, but the Saints also committed 10 turnovers as opposed to the Monks' seven. The Saints also shot 9-24 from the field while the Monks went 11-24, and St. Joseph also went 8-10 from the stripe while Emmanuel made only 4-9.

The Saints started the second half hot, nailing five straight points before the Monks could tally their first. Two straight threes by Kelley (his third and fourth of the game) halted the run and made the score 39-30. A free-throw by Fazio gave the Saints one back, but Monks' junior Chris Petzy (Kensington, N.H.) added two and one right after.

Buchanan and Everson hit back-to-back three's for the Saints to make it 42-37 and Buchanan followed with a quick pull-up jumper to pull the lead to within three. Despite a three by Gill, the Monks added more buckets following missed shots by the Saints to push their lead to nine with a 52-43 edge.

Saints' freshman Theo Robinson (Springfield, Mass.) added three to the hosts' cause with an and-one play but then committed a foul moments later with just over 11 minutes remaining in the half.

Minutes later, Fazio fed Buchanan for a jumper that dropped while being fouled to pull the Saints to within five. Buchanan drained another three-pointer from beyond the arc a little while afterwards and the Saints grabbed possession on a Monks' turnover with less than nine minutes left.

The Saints charged back a few minutes later with an off balance layup by Duke and a three-pointer by Fazio on the following drive. St. Joseph's responded with a three of its own to make it 66-60 with the clocking showing less than five minutes remaining in the game.

The Saints kept pulling their way back into the contest with Duke adding three points for Emmanuel to make it 70-63 with 2:38 remaining. Despite the late push, Emmanuel could not overcome the deficit and fell to the Monks, 81-67.

The Saints managed to outrebound the Monks, 34-33 and tallied nine three pointers compared with St. Joseph's seven. The hosts shot 23-57 from the floor for the game while the Monks went 24-47, and the visitors tallied 26-31 from the free-throw line while the Saints went 12-21.

Three Saints finished the game in double-digits for scoring with Buchanan notching 16, Duke grabbing 14 and Fazio tallying 10 points. Duke and Buchanan also led the team with seven rebounds each with Fuller adding two blocks to the stat sheet.

For the Monks, O'Brien fell one assist shy of a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the visitors. Petzy, Kelley and freshman Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) each grabbed double-digit point totals with Kelley hitting a game-high, four three's.

The Saints will next host Suffolk University at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 11.