Junior forward Matt Plummer (Naples, Maine/Lake Region) dropped in a lay-up in the closing seconds of the game to lift the St. Joseph’s College Monks to a 63-62 win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in the second game of The MAINE Event tournament, Thursday night. The tournament is being played at Warren G. Hill Gymnasium on the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.
With the win, St. Joseph’s College improves to 4-3 and will play the Husson College Eagles in the championship game, Friday at 8 p.m. Husson advanced to the championship game with a thrilling 77-75 win over the Colby College Mules. Southern Maine, which evens out at 5-5 with the loss, will face Colby in the consolation game at 6 p.m.
Plummer finished the game with eight points and six rebounds for the Monks, while junior guard Marcus Alexander (Niceville, Fla./Niceville) led all scorers with 17 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Noah LaRoche (Exeter, N.H./Exeter) was the only other St. Joseph’s player in double-figures tossing in 12 points.
Four players reached double figures in scoring led by 14 points from sophomore guard Walter Phillips (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy). Sophomore guard Josh Daniels (Everett, Wash./Maine Central Institute) and senior forward Bill Hardwick (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) each netted 13 points for the Huskies while sophomore guard Andy Frost (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) chipped in with 12 points.
In a see-saw second half that included nine lead changes and 14 ties, both teams battled evenly in a hotly contested game. Southern Maine’s Phillips grabbed an offensive rebound and sank the put-back to knot the score up at 61-61, for the final tie of the game, with 48 seconds to play, before the Huskies took a slim one-point lead.
The Monks’ Alexander missed a lay-up in St. Joseph’s ensuing possession and the Huskies’ Daniels came up with a big defensive rebound and was fouled in the process. Daniels knocked down the second of two free throws to put the Huskies up 62-61 with 24 seconds to play, setting up Plummer’s heroics.
In the final St. Joseph’s College possession, Plummer drove hard against the baseline and knocked down a lay-up in traffic, putting the Monks ahead 63-62 with just eight seconds on the clock. Plummer who was fouled on the play, missed the free throw for the three-point play, giving the Huskies a final shot at the game. But Southern Maine sophomore guard Foster Oakley’s (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue) three-point attempt in the final seconds was blocked by Alexander.
The Huskies finished the game shooting a solid 40.4 percent from the field, knocking down 21-of-52 attempts from the floor. St. Joseph’s shot 37.3 percent from the field (22-of-59).