The men's basketball team captured the 2011 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship with a 76-66 victory against St. Joseph's of Maine at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Johnson & Wales junior Lamonte Thomas (Providence, R.I.) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player and was joined on the all-tournament squad by teammates senior Louis Ferreras (Providence, R.I.) and fellow senior Darren Faust (Queens, N.Y). It marks the first time since the 2003-2004 campaign that the men's squad had won the conference championship.
Thomas scored 33 points and added seven rebounds and six assists in the win for JWU. Thomas broke the GNAC single season scoring record and now has 852 points this year. Ferreras had 20 points and seven rebounds in the victory while junior Calvin Jones (Providence, R.I.) chipped in with 10 points and six steals for the Wildcats.
St. Joseph's was paced by junior Zach O'Brien (Schenectady, N.Y.) with 15 points and eight rebounds while junior Chris Petzy (Kensington, N.H.) tallied 13 points and four assists for the Monks.
St. Joseph's jumped out to the early lead and held the 9-1 lead on a pair of free throws by Petzy with 14:40 left in the first half. Johnson & Wales proceeded to chip away at the lead and cut the lead to just one point when a jumper by Jones made the score 18-17 with 7:03 remaining on the clock in the half. The Monks pushed their lead up to six points several times down the stretch of the first half, but each time JWU responded and the Wildcats took their first lead when a jumper by Thomas put the squad up 32-31 with just :53 left in the half. St. Joseph's of Maine took the 36-34 lead into the locker room at halftime after a buzzer beating half court shot by O'Brien.
JWU opened the second half with an 10-0 run, capped by a breakaway dunk by Thomas to give the Wildcats the 44-36 lead with 16:58 left in regulation. JWU led by as much as 13 after a layup by Ferreras put the squad up 66-53 with 5:52 on the clock. The Wildcats then cruised to the 76-66 victory.
With the victory Johnson & Wales is now 20-8 overall while St. Joseph's of Maine falls to 20-8 for the season. The NCAA Division III Selection Show will take place on Monday, February 28th at Noon. It will be broadcast live via webcast at www.ncaa.com.