STANDISH – Four Farmington players netted double-digits to help the visiting Beavers (2-1) defeat Saint Joseph’s (2-1), 69-56, on Tuesday evening at the Alfond Center. Elbie Murphy ’09 (Loudonville, NY) paced the Monks with 17 points in the losing effort and Andrew Dean ’11 (Gorham, ME) led the visitors with 16 points.
Trailing 27-20 with four minutes remaining in the opening stanza, the Monks managed to put together a 9-2 run, with seven of the points coming from Alberto Rue ’10 (Jamaica Plain, MA), to knot the game at 29 apiece going into the break.
The deadlocked score would be as close as the Monks would come to overcoming the visitors in their home opener. Dean made one of two free throw attempts to cap a 13-4 run that saw Farmington take a 42-33 lead six minutes into the second half. Dean and Ted Neil ‘09 (Strong, ME) made three-pointers on back-to-back UMF possessions during the offensive surge to help the visitors gain momentum.
The Monks were able to cut the Beavers’ lead to four points, 42-38, in the following two minutes with a three-pointer from Rue and a pair of free-throws from Murphy, but Farmington quickly regained control of the contest after Shane Tracy ‘11 (Sangerville, ME) scored five points to put his team back on top by seven with 9:40 left to play.
The Beavers, with help from a healthy 11-12 effort from the charity stripe down the stretch, would not lead by fewer than seven points for the remainder of the game. UMF increased their advantage to 13 points as Dean sank two freebies with 29 seconds left to cap the game scoring with the Beavers on top, 69-56.
For the visiting Beavers, Josh Tanguay ‘10 (Gorham, ME) posted a double-double effort with 12 rebounds and 10 points and Eric Taylor ‘11 (Oakland, ME) scored 14 points in the victory.
Farmington outworked Saint Joseph’s on the glass, 41-28, and shot 88.9 percent (16-18) from the line.
For the Monks, Ray Eatmon ‘10 (Huntington, NY) corralled ‘11 rebounds and scored nine points, and Scot Vachon 09 (Schenectady, NY) had five points and five assists in the loss. Elbie Murphy was 5-8 on free-throw attempts and grabbed three steals to give him 286 in his career, which is one shy of the SJC record held by Jamie Header ‘93.
Farmington will host Colby College on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.
