Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Senior point guard Scot Vachon (Schenectady, N.Y.) made a pair of free throws with 31 seconds remaining to provide the Saint Joseph's College Monks with an 83-81 non-conference men's basketball win over the University of New England Nor'easters on Saturday afternoon at the Campus Center.

Vachon's two free throws gave St. Joe's its first lead of the second half.  The Nor'easters had three shots to tie or win the contest in the final 17 seconds but could not convert.

The Nor'easters led by seven (77-70) with 6:43 remaining before St. Joe's scored five unanswered points to close to within two (77-75).  Sophomore forward Chris Davis (New York, N.Y.) hit consecutive lay-ups, then senior forward Elbie Murphy (Loudonville, N.Y.) made one of two free throws at the 5:20 mark.

Both teams went back-and-forth over the next four minutes before the Monks drew even at 81-all on another lay-up by Davis with 1:18 on the clock.  

UNE missed a three-pointer on its next possession and Murphy cleared the rebound.  St. Joe's was patient on its ensuing possession, working the ball to Vachon, who was fouled driving to the basket, setting up the winning freebies.

Junior forward Raymond Eatmon (Huntington, N.Y.) had a monster game for St. Joe's, scoring a career-high 31 points on 13-for-16 shooting.  He added a team-high seven rebounds and dished out five assists.

Davis came off the bench to hit 8 of 11 field goal attempts on his way to 18 points.  Vachon scored eight points on perfect shooting (2 of 2 from the floor, 4 of 4 from the line) to go with a game-high nine assists.

Senior guard Jaykyri Simpson (East Cleburne, Texas) led four UNE players in double figures with 16 points.  First-year guard Victor Oruonyehu (Austin, Texas) netted 15 points, while senior forward Johnnie Jefferson (Dallas, Texas) and sophomore guard #J.J. Roseman# (Dallas, Texas) added 11 apiece.

The first half featured six ties and seven lead changes.  Jefferson and first-year guard Sean Caddigan (Bethel, Maine) made 3-pointers in the final 1:58 to give the hosts a 41-37 lead heading to intermission.

St. Joe's helped its cause by making 19 of 27 (70.4 percent) tries from the floor in the second frame.

For the game, the Monks shot a robust 55.7 percent (34 of 61) and had 23 assists on their 34 field goals.  The Nor'easters countered by making 14 of 31 three-point attempts.

St. Joe's (2-0) plays its home-opener Tuesday when UMaine Farmington heads to Standish for a 7:00 p.m. contest.  The Nor'easters host Bowdoin College that same evening at 7:30 p.m.

The UNE/Bowdoin game will be Web cast live at http://athletics.une.edu/stream.asx