BOSTON, MA – Fifth-seeded Saint Joseph's (17-9) climbed past #4 Emerson College (15-11), 73-68, in overtime in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament quarterfinal contest on Tuesday evening. Sophomore forward Steve Simonds (Steep Falls, Maine) netted a game-high 23 points in the thrilling come-from-behind triumph.

Saint Joseph's trailed by as many as 15 points midway through the second half but fought back with an 18-2 run - over just 3:39 of play - that saw the Monks claim a one-point lead and jump back into contention. Trailing 53-51 with 1:07 remaining in regulation, Simonds picked off an errant in-bounds pass and drained a three-pointer to provide his squad with a 54-53 edge. Freshman guard Jerome Diggs (Centreville, Va.) extended the SJC lead with a free throw 41 seconds later, but Emerson forward Patrick Lowndes (Granby, Conn.) dribbled the length of the floor and made a layup with 12 seconds left to knot the game at 55-apiece and force extra play.

Saint Joseph's looked to Jobin to lead the charge in overtime and he did not disappoint, as the junior big man scored seven of the Monks' first eight OT points, including a dunk-and-one play that lifted the Royal Blue to a 63-59 cushion with 1:52 left in the third period. A Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) layup with 59 seconds remaining extended the visitors' lead to 65-59 and the Monks all but clinched the victory by making all eight free-throw attempts down the stretch.

With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to the conference tourney semifinal round for the fifth time in six seasons as a member of the GNAC and will play at #1 Anna Maria College, which topped #8 Emmanuel College, 85-76, earlier this evening, at 7:00 PM on Thursday night. With the loss, the 2012-13 season comes to an end for Emerson College.

The outlook was bleak for Saint Joseph's for the better part of regulation and particularly the first half, when the Monks shot 33.3% (8-24) from the floor and went without a free-throw attempt. The Lions opened the contest with a 7-2 run and led for the majority of the opening stanza, sans a 37-second span when Simonds and freshman Craig Luschenat (Boston, Mass.) connected on three-pointers to lift the Royal Blue to a short-lived 14-13 lead with 8:54 before the break.

The slim advantage quickly dissipated as Emerson mounted an 11-3 outbreak on the way to securing a 24-17 lead with 3:16 left in the first half. Freshman forward Brian Hurley (South Boston, Mass.) and Lowndes accounted for 10 points during the hosts' surge.

Emerson junior James Rhodes (Hebron, Conn.) went on to nail a three-pointer to extend his team's lead to 27-17 with 1:13 left in the first, but Luschenat countered with a trifecta of his own 22 seconds later to make it a seven-point game heading into the break.

Lowndes and Hurley led all first-half scorers with eight points apiece while Jobin and Luschenat both netted six to lead the Monks in the first period.

The Lions quickly pushed their advantage to double-digits in the second stanza and freshman guard Michael Thorpe (Newton, Mass.) converted a traditional three-point play to provide the hosts with a game-high 15-point (44-29) lead with 10:34 left.

Unfazed, the Monks effectively employed a full-court press and quickly turned the tide. Along with the suffocating press, Saint Joseph's utilized a trio of Simonds treys and another deep shot from Luschenat during the aforementioned, and unlikely, Saint Joseph's run. The conference counterparts proceeded to swap the lead three times and faced tie scores twice over the final seven minutes of regulation.

For the Monks, Simonds added eight assists, four rebounds and three steals as well as 5-9 and 6-6 efforts from downtown and the FT line, respectively, to his impressive stat line, Jobin poured in 21 with seven boards and went 10-13 from the floor in the victory and Luschenat came off the bench to score 12 off a 4-7 bid from downtown.

For the Lions, Thorpe netted 19 and Lowndes tallied 15 points, 12 caroms and six assists in a losing effort.

Overall, Saint Joseph's shot 45.3% (24-53) from the field, 40% (10-25) from three-point land and 83.3% (15-18) from the FT line while Emerson shot 40.6% (28-69) form the floor, 25.9% (7-27) from downtown and 50% (5-10) from the charity stripe.

The SJC full-court press helped produce nine second-half turnovers, a tally that yielded 19 points for the Royal Blue in the second frame. For the Monks, the overtime victory is the first since the men required extra play to defeat University of Southern Maine, 61-59, on November 27th, 2011.

In six years as a GNAC-member, Saint Joseph's has played in a pair of conference tournament overtime games and has won them both. The other OT victory: a 74-72 win over Emmanuel College in the 2009 GNAC Championship on February 28th, 2009.

With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 8-4 in the history of the series with Emerson College and has now defeated the Lions in eight-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2009-10 season.

In other tournament action around the conference tonight, #2 Albertus Magnus College handled #7 Rivier University (84-65) and #3 Johnson & Wales University edged #6 Suffolk University (72-71). Johnson & Wales will play at Albertus Magnus in the other conference semifinal on Thursday at 7:00 PM.

Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.