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BOSTON,
MA - #1 Seed Emerson College (24-3) defeated #5 St. Joe's (14-13)
79-75 in a GNAC Semifinal game on Thursday evening. SO Alberto
Rue (Jamaica Plain, MA) and JR Elbie
Murphy (Loudonville, NY) each scored 14 points
as five Monks players scored 10 or more points in the close contest.
The win sends the top seeded Lions to the Championship Game for
the third time in four years where they will host second seeded
Lasell College at 1:00pm on Saturday, March 1.
Emerson's sophomore forward Bryan Rouse (East Greenwich, RI) tallied
28 points and eight rebounds to help lead the Lions to victory.
The game was close throughout with Emerson opening up the largest
lead with an 11-1 run breaking a 23-23 first half tie. St. Joe's
was able to pull within 38-34 at the break after JR Scott
Vachon (Schenectady, NY) made layups on back-to-back
SJC possesions. The first stanza featured three ties and nine lead
changes.
Emerson held the lead for the first six minutes of the second half
until a jump shot by Elbie Murphy
knotted the score at 49. After Emerson took a four point lead following
a layup by Rouse, Murphy answered with a layup
of his own, and Alberto Rue nailed
a three-ball to give the Monks a 56-55 lead with 10:53 remaining.
Two free throws from GNAC Player of the Year SO Jeremy Shannon (Lowell,
MA) briefly gave Emerson the lead, but another trifecta from Rue
put the Monks up 59-57.
Shannon drilled two free throws to tie the score at 59 at the 9:27
mark, and FR Tom Messinger (Florence, MA) nailed a three to give
the Lions a 62-59 advantage. A second consecutive three point shot
from Messinger put the Lions up by six. St. Joe's pulled back to
within three points on three different occasions, but a three pointer
by SR Will Dawkins (Springfield, MA) moved the lead to 79-72 with
12 seconds left and sealed the victory.
In addition to Rouse, Shannon with 18 and Messinger with 14 were
in double figures for the Lions. Dawkins had eight assists.
Five Monks were in double figures led by Murphy
and Rue with 14. Rue put up another
solid performance from three-point range, making 4 of 6 downtown
bids in the contest. JR Scott Vachon
(Schenectady, NY) scored a dozen and added 5 assists and 3 steals,
while FY Eric Friend (Portland,
ME) and SO Raymond Eatmon (Huntington,
NY) each chipped in with 10 points.
The
Monks posted an impressive 50.8% (31-61) shooting
percentage,
but the Emerson Lions were even better from the floor and made an
even 60% (27-45) of their attempts. The Lions were unflappable at
the charity stripe as they converted 90% (18-20) of their free throw
attempts in
the game.
St. Joseph's College vs Emerson College
02/28/08 7:00pm at Piano Row Gymnasium, Boston, Mass.
EMERSON COLLEGE 79, ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE 75
ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (14-12)
Elbie Murphy 6-13 1-3 14; Alberto Rue 4-9 2-2 14; Scot Vachon 6-13
0-0 12;
Raymond Eatmon 4-9 2-3 10; Eric Friend 4-6 1-1 10; Rashon Jones
2-2 0-0 5;
Mitch Ouellet 2-2 0-0 4; Alonso Davis 2-3 0-0 4; Chris Davis 1-3
0-0 2;
Tyler Kelley 0-1 0-0 0; Jay Tutwiler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-61 6-9
75.
EMERSON COLLEGE (23-3)
Bryan Rouse 9-11 10-11 28; Jeremy Shannon 5-6 8-9 18; Tom Messinger
5-13 0-0
14; Will Dawkins 4-6 0-0 9; Ben Chase 3-6 0-0 8; Jon Showers 1-2
0-0 2;
Anthony Remias 0-0 0-0 0; Joe Boylan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-45 18-20
79.
St. Joseph's College.......... 34 41 - 75
Emerson College............... 38 41 - 79
3-point goals-
St. Joseph's College 7-16 (Alberto Rue 4-6; Elbie Murphy 1-6; Rashon
Jones 1-1; Eric Friend 1-1; Raymond Eatmon 0-1; Scot Vachon 0-1)
Emerson College 7-18 (Tom Messinger 4-12; Ben Chase 2-4; Will Dawkins
1-1;
Jon Showers 0-1)
Fouled out--St. Joseph's College-None, Emerson College-None
Rebounds-
St. Joseph's College 27 (Raymond Eatmon 4; Elbie Murphy 4; Eric
Friend 4; Alonso Davis 4)
Emerson College 24 (Bryan Rouse 8)
Assists-
St. Joseph's College 14 (Scot Vachon 5)
Emerson College 17 (Will Dawkins 8)
Total fouls-St. Joseph's College 18, Emerson College 16.
Semi-finals of the 2008 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship
Tournament. Emerson is the #1 seed, St. Joseph's is the #5 seed.
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