SAINTS GO 1-2 AT CACTUS JAM, BATTLE INJURY BUG

Jan. 2: St. Lawrence University’s men’s basketball team returned from a post-Christmas trip to Pheonix, AZ with more bandages than sun tans, but did win one game of three in the trip west.

The Saints were down three starters before the tournament even got underway as they lost standout forward Aaron Marshall to an ankle injury the night before the first game. Jimmy White and Matt Lickfield were out of action due to injuries sustained prior to departing for Pheonix.

And, the injury bug kept biting upon return as rookie guard Shane Connolly injured an ankle in practice the first day back from the trip.

“We’re going into this week’s games with six or seven guys able to play,” said Saint coach Chris Downs. “We will just try to do the best we can and then hopefully get some guys back into action for the start of league play.”

The battered Saints dropped their tournament opener to Bridgewater State 82-53.

“You can’t take those three guys out of our lineup and be competitive against a team like Bridgewater,” said Downs. “Some of our younger guys were force-fed a little experience, but it will do us some good down the road.”

Keith Sullivan and Pat Delmonico led the Saint with 14 points each while Matt Blue chipped in 13 and Tyler Shaver scored eight. The Saints trailed 42-33 at the half, but were outscored 40-20 in the second half with Bridgewater also holding a 42-26 edge on the boards.

Not having Marshall hurt at both ends of the court in a 78-73 loss to Colorado College in game two as 6-5 Tiger forward Michael Reich torched the Saints for 43 points, 24 of them in the second half.

“You would anticipate that Aaron could hold Reich down a little bit offensively and get some points of his own. It would have been a good matchup to see,” said Downs.

The Saints led 43-34 at the half, but the Tigers came from behind to take the lead in the second half and salted it away at the foul line. The Saints were down 73-71 with 45 seconds to play, but Reich made five three throws in the last 41 seconds to cement the win.

Delmonico led the Saints with 22 points, hitting four of nine from three point range while Blue was six for seven from the floor and three for four from three point range and had five assists and two steals. Sullivan went eight for nine from the line had six rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 14-point night.

The Saints torched Drew with a 61.5 percent shooting performance from the field in the first half, racing to a 51-29 lead, and never looked back in picking up their second win of the year and snapping a four-game losing streak with a 80-65 win.

Delmonico scored 17 points, Blue went seven for seven from the line in a 15 points night with three assists and two steals, Sullivan was five for eight from the floor and perfect on a pair of three pointers for 14 points and Connolly chipped in 10 points for the Saints.

St. Lawrence will take a 2-5 record into a Wednesday game at Brockport and will play at Oswego on Friday.