Standish, ME— The Lasers lost to Saint Joseph's College, 78-63, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball match-up at the Harold Alfond Center on Thursday evening.  Sean Bertanza (Seymore, CT) led the Lasers with 18 points, but it was not enough for the win. 

The Lasers fought back from double-digit deficits on several occasions, but the Monks were able to prevail, thanks largely to an excellent team performance from the free throw line.  Saint Joseph's made 20 of 23 shots from the stripe – including a 15-15 effort in the second half. 

The Lasers started out slow and found themselves down by 21 late in the first half after Matthew Medeiros (Westport, MA) drained a trifecta at the 3:17 mark to give the Monks a 36-15 cushion. The Lasers then managed to net 10 unanswered points; a surge punctuated by a pair of Brock Walters (Jacksonville, FL) three-pointers.  Lasell was back in the game at the break, down only 39-27.

Medeiros, 4-5 from three-point land in the opening stanza, led all scorers with 12 first-half points while Chris Petzy (Kensington, NH) notched 10 in the first 20 minutes of play. Bertanza  ranked as the Lasers' leading scorer with eight points at the break while Sonny Mello (Fall River, MA) contributed seven for the visitors.

In the first half, Saint Joseph's shot 42.4% from the floor, 66.7% from three-point distance, and 62.5% from the free throw line. Lasell countered by shooting 38.7% from the field and 33.3% from downtown.   They did not attempt a freebie in the opening 20 minutes.

Early in the second half, Javon Williams (Mattapan, MA) took it upon himself to keep the Lasers in the game by scoring three consecutive buckets to draw his team to within nine points, 43-34, with 17:11 remaining in the contest.  Lasell then went on to methodically chip away at the deficit. The Lasers whittled the Monks' cushion down to just three points, 53-50, after Arthur Alexander (Port St. Lucie, FL) made a pair of free throws with 8:23 to go. The Lasers would get no closer to the lead however, as the hosts proceeded to post an 11-1 outbreak over the following three minutes to regain control of the game.

Lasell would not go down easy though, as they mustered one final push with an 8-2 burst that saw the hosts' cushion fall to 66-61 after Ricky Landais (Fall River, MA) capped the run with a layup at the 3:07 mark.  In the closing minutes, Saint Joseph's forced three turnovers and went a perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe to secure the victory.

Bertanza led the Lasers with 18 points and Williams finished the night with 17, 15 of those coming in the second half.   Walters contributed 10 in the loss.

Both teams resume conference play on Saturday when Saint Joseph's travels to Suffolk University for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff and Lasell hosts Anna Maria College at 2:00 p.m.