The College of St. Joseph men’s basketball team suffered a tough loss to a well-coached Southern Maine CC team on Saturday, Jan. 9. The Fighting Saints got behind early and were never able to crawl back in a game that ended in the Seawolves favor 85-70.

The loss brings CSJ down to 9-5 overall and hands them their first YSCC conference loss of the season, making them 4-1 in conference play. They are still fourth in the USCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Polls and look forward to moving on from the loss.

The Saints were never able to find their stride against the Seawolves, falling behind by a staggering 27 points just before halftime. They fought back in the second half and tightened up the score, but could not stop Southern Maine CC on defense when they needed to the most.

One of the bright spots for CSJ was the stellar play of sixth man Antonio Gordon, who came off the bench to score a game high 25 points and was able to connect on five shots from beyond the arc. Gordon was a big reason for the Saints’ comeback from the deficit, from 27 points down to 11 with ten minutes to go in the second half. Although CSJ fought hard to get back into the game, the Seawolves continued to make shots and never let the Saints get within single digits of them.

Kareem Brown played a solid game for CSJ, scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. In the end, the Saints could never find a consistent rhythm and the Seawolves took full advantage of that. Moving forward, CSJ looks to come out more aggressive and in tune to start games, so they can avoid putting themselves into large deficits.

The Saints play their next game at home against Fisher College on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.

OTHER INFORMATION Technical fouls: Southern Maine CC-None ; CSJ-1 ( Kyle Houston) .
Officials: ,,
Attendance: 58
Time: 4:00 PM