BOSTON, MA - St. Joe's (9-2, 3-1 GNAC) outscored Suffolk (1-8, 0-2) 48-34 in the second half to negate a two-point halftime deficit and collected an 88-76 victory over the Rams in conference action on Wednesday evening. Tyler Kelley ‘11 (Saco, ME) made five of six three-point attempts and led six Monks in double-digits with a career and game-high 26 points in the win.

Zach O'Brien ‘12 (Schenectady, NY), Alberto Rue ‘10 (Jamaica Plain, MA) and Chris Petzy ‘12 (East Kingston, NH) each netted ‘11 points while Chris Davis '11 (New York, NY) and Scot Vachon ‘09 (Schenectady, NY) both chipped in with ‘10 in the triumph. O'Brien led the Royal Blue with seven boards while Vachon led the Monks in both assists and steals with five apiece.

The Rams' Mario Massimino ‘11 (East Haven, CT) led Suffolk with 20 points on 9-12 shooting from the field. Senior forward Brian Small (Stoughton, MA) added 19 points and eight rebounds in the losing effort. Small was 6-7 from the field.

St. Joe's made 52% of their shots in the first half and Kelley paced the Monks with 15 points off of five three-pointers. Suffolk countered by dropping an astounding 63% of their attempts from the field and led 42-40 at the break. Luke Barrett ‘12 (Cincinnati, OH) and Small each had 12 in the half. Barrett finished his night with a season-high 19 points, going 5 for 8 from behind the arc.

The Rams continued their sharp play late in the second half, trailing just 66-65 with less than seven minutes remaining after a Massimino bucket. The Monks quickly responded with a game-breaking 10-0 run in three minutes to take a commanding 76-65 lead. The Monks, who entered the game with the GNAC's best scoring defense, were able to pressure the Rams and take control of the game in the closing minutes.

Suffolk battled back after Joe Ransom's ‘10 (Sheffield, UK) only field goal of the game, and one of Massimino's two threes on the night made it a 76-70 deficit with just 2:17 remaining. St. Joe's followed by blanking the Rams 8-0 in the next minute with the help of Vachon, who scored six points and drained all four of his free-throw attempts to put his team up 84-70 with 1:05 remaining.

For the fifth time this season, the Monks finished a contest having made at least half of their attempts from the field. St. Joe's was 32-59 (54.2%) from the floor in the win. The Suffolk shooters fared nearly as well, with a 53.7% (29-54) rate, but the host Rams committed 17 turnovers, to just 10 SJC miscues, and went 8-13 from the charity stripe while the Monks converted 16 freebies in 24 tries.

Saint Joseph's College will host Rivier on Saturday, January 10th at 3:00 PM, while Suffolk will look for its first conference win of the season when rival Emerson College comes to Regan Gymnasium Saturday afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Newspaper Box Score
SJMMB vs Suffolk
01/07/09 6:00 pm at Regan Gymnasium
At Regan Gymnasium
SJMMB 88, SUFFOLK 76
SJMMB (9-2 (3-1 GNAC))
Tyler Kelley 10-14 1-1 26; Chris Petzy 3-7 4-5 11; Alberto Rue 4-9 2-5 11;
Zach O'Brien 4-9 2-5 11; Scot Vachon 3-4 4-4 10; Chris Davis 5-6 0-0 10;
Mitch Ouellet 2-5 0-0 4; Elbie Murphy 0-4 3-4 3; R. J. Mattison 1-1 0-0 2;
Eric Friend 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-59 16-24 88.
SUFFOLK (1-8 (0-2 GNAC))
Mario Massimino 9-12 0-2 20; Brian Small 6-7 7-9 19; Luke Barrett 7-12 0-0
19; Brad Seaman 3-4 0-0 6; Allan Ray 1-8 0-0 3; Joe Ransom 1-2 1-1 3; Mike
Fleming 1-4 0-1 3; Mike Gibbons 1-5 0-0 3; Dan Williams 0-0 0-0 0; Mike
Lindberg 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-54 8-13 76.
SJMMB......................... 40 48 - 88
Suffolk....................... 42 34 - 76
3-point goals--SJMMB 8-19 (Tyler Kelley 5-6; Zach O'Brien 1-4; Alberto Rue
1-3; Chris Petzy 1-3; Elbie Murphy 0-2; Mitch Ouellet 0-1), Suffolk 10-24
(Luke Barrett 5-8; Mario Massimino 2-3; Allan Ray 1-5; Mike Gibbons 1-5;
Mike Fleming 1-2; Brian Small 0-1). Fouled out--SJMMB-None, Suffolk-None.
Rebounds--SJMMB 33 (Zach O'Brien 7), Suffolk 32 (Brian Small 8).
Assists--SJMMB 16 (Scot Vachon 5), Suffolk 15 (Mike Fleming 4). Total
fouls--SJMMB 12, Suffolk 17. Technical fouls--SJMMB-None, Suffolk-None. A-51



THANKS IN PART TO SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION