Men’s Basketball Defeated By St. Joseph’s of Maine, 83-71

The men's basketball squad was defeated by St. Joseph's of Maine, 83-71 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Harborside Recreation Center on Saturday afternoon.

Johnson & Wales was led by senior All-American Lamonte Thomas (Providence, R.I.) with 25 points, nine assists and four rebounds while fellow senior James Folk (Lawrence, Mass.) had 19 points and seven caroms for the Wildcats.  Senior Mike Harris (Providence, R.I.) had 11 points and two assists in the setback.

Senior Zach O'Brien (Schenectady, N.Y.) paced St. Joseph's of Maine with a game-high 35 points and four rebounds while senior Chris Petzy (Kensington, N.H.) and sophomore Matt Medeiros (Westport, Mass) each had 13 points in the victory.  Sophomore Clark Noonan (Bangor, Maine) was also in double-figures with 10 points for the Monks.

Johnson & Wales raced out to the 19-6 lead after a layup by junior Matt Williams (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) with 13:16 left in the first half.  St. Joseph's responded with a 16-3 run and knotted the game 22-22 on a layup by O'Brien with 8:27 on the clock.  The two teams would then trade leads for the remainder of the stanza with JWU taking the 36-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The two teams battled back and forth in the early parts of the second half with the score tied 50-50 on a three-point play by Thomas with 12:13 left in regulation.  The Monks then used a 13-5 run, capped by a three-pointer from O'Brien to take the 63-55 advantage with 5:47 on the clock.  St. Joseph's would then take control of the game down the stretch for the 83-71 victory.

With the loss Johnson & Wales is now 5-11 overall and 4-5 in league play while St. Joseph's of Maine improves to 11-4 on the season and 7-2 in the GNAC.  The Wildcats will return to action on Tuesday, January 24^th when they host Anna Maria for a GNAC contest at 7:00 p.m.