NCAA M. BASKETBALL: Saint Joseph’s Outlasts Maine-Farmington, 60-56

FARMINGTON, Maine – Saint Joseph’s College (2-2) outlasted University of Maine-Farmington (1-3), 60-56, in a non-conference men’s basketball game on Monday evening.
 
THE LEAD
Saint Joseph’s held a 51-37 after junior guard John Crawley (Fitchburg, Mass.) drained a three-pointer with 7:38 remaining in the second half, but Maine-Farmington rallied with a 14-5 run to cut the visitors’ cushion down to five with 46 seconds left. The Monks managed to cling to the lead by making four free throws, including three from freshman guard Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine), in the closing 30 seconds to escape with the victory.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH’S

•       Crawley led all scorers with 18 points after going 7-12 from the floor, including a 4-7 effort from three-point distance

•       Freshman guard Ben Malloy (Standish, Maine) came off the bench to net 12 points off a 4-7 three-point shooting performance

•       Sophomore forward Quinn Richardson-Newton (Saco, Maine) tallied 11 points and six rebounds

•       Senior guard Jerome Diggs (Washington, D.C.) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds with three assists

•       Freshman guard Darian Berry (Rochester, N.H.) grabbed eight rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench
 
LEADERS – MAINE-FARMINGTON

•       Nick Hilton netted 17 points with five boards

•       Sean Murphy tallied 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots

•       Eric Berry added 10 points with three assists
 
NOTEWORTHY
Outrebounded by a 45-22 margin in a narrow loss to Husson University last Thursday, the Monks posted a decided 47-34 rebounds advantage with a 12-7 lead in second-chance points in tonight’s victory.
 
TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph’s shot 42.6% (23-54) from the field, 34.6% (9-26) from downtown, and 41.7% (5-12) from the free throw line while Maine-Farmington countered by shooting 35.9% (23-64) from the floor, 26.1% (6-23) from three-point range, and 50% (4-8) from the charity stripe in the loss.
Aside from rebounds, Saint Joseph’s owned advantages in assists (16-9) and bench points (20-11) while Maine-Farmington held the lead in points off turnovers (17-4) and points in the paint (28-26) while recording an 8-18 cushion in turnovers.
 
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the win, Saint Joseph’s improves to 54-19 all-time versus Maine Farmington, a team the Monks defeated by a 54-34 margin at home last season.
 
NEXT!
Saint Joseph’s will host University of Southern Maine in the Annual Costello Cup series matchup on Sunday at 7:30 PM. Presented annually to the winner of the contest between the rivals, the Costello Cup honors the late Dr. Richard "Doc" Costello, former USM Athletic Director and long-time basketball coach. The Monks own a 15-11 record versus the Huskies during the Cup matchup, which began during the 1989-90 campaign.
 
Maine-Farmington starts conference play on Monday, December 1 with a trip to Husson.