Alley pours in 33 to lead Braves past Monks 90-79

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He was like the protective older brother who always seemed to show up when you needed someone to bail you out of a jam.

Husson College senior guard Raymond Alley may have felt he never got into an offensive comfort zone in his team’s 90-79 win over archrival St. Joseph’s College of Standish but he finished with a game-high 33 points and many of those came when his team needed them the most.

“I never got into a shooting rhythm. I didn’t think I played well offensively,” said Alley. “I had only three or four 3-pointers and I usually get six or seven. And I missed some layups. Most of my points in the second half came off breakaway layups.”

Alley had 21 of his points in the second half as the 24-3 Braves avenged their only loss to an instate team this season. Husson had lost to St. Joseph’s in Standish 88-81 on Jan. 13.

St. Joseph’s is now 19-6.

“Alley came up big for them,” said St. Joseph’s forward John Wassenbergh, who led his team with 23 points despite picking up three fouls in the first 10:19 of play and eventually fouling out. “He’s a great offensive player.

Alley said he knows he is one of his team’s go-to guys so he was prepared to put the ball up even knowing that he didn’t have his usual shooting rhythm.

“I think the guys look to me sometimes when we need a basket. I’m used to it,” said Alley.

The Monks were without leading scorer Steve Schuler, who was sidelined by back spasms. Guard Schuler was averaging 23 points per game and had 25 in the win over Husson.

“We didn’t play a very good game but our defense stepped up at some critical times and created turnovers that led to points,” said Husson Coach Bruce MacGregor.

Husson sophomore guard Bryan Jefferson said, “Coach (MacGregor) told us that he wanted us to put more pressure on the ball in the second half. He wanted us to turn them every which way. And that’s what we did.”

Offensively, Jefferson said the Braves “were able to get the ball in to the key players when we needed to.”

The Braves broke the game open in the final five minutes of the first half when they outscored St. Joseph’s 13-5 to take a 40-27 lead into the intermission.

With Husson leading 27-22, Obadiah Johnson triggered the flurry by stealing the ball under the St. Joseph’s basket and laying the ball in. Rich Mazurek followed with a 12-footer from the right wing.

Two foul shots apiece by Casey Costigan and Steve Thombs sandwiched an Alley 14-footer from just inside the top of the key to cut the lead to 33-26.

Alley then canned a jumper from inside the top of the key after making a nifty spin move and Obadiah Johnson fed Dwayne Knowlton for a four-footer from the base line.

After a Jamie McGarry free throw, Alley capped the first half with a 3-pointer from the left wing.

The stubborn Monks kept trying to make runs at the lead but they were to get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Husson built a virtually insurmountable 79-60 lead with five minutes left thanks to a 10-3 rally that featured two Alley layups. He converted his own steal on the first one and was then fed a long pass by Kevin Moore after Moore had blocked a Wassenbergh shot.

Alley added a pair of free throws later in the spurt.

An 11-point St. Joseph’s run that saw Bangor’s Allyn Zanchi score four of those points and Jamie Teahan hit a 3-pointer made it 83-73 with two minutes left.

But Husson protected the ball well and didn’t succumb to the Monks’ pressure.

Besides Alley’s points, Rich Mazurek scored 11, Moore had 10 and Dwayne Knowlton cotributed nine more. Jefferson and Johnson had eight apiece. Jimmy Watkins had six rebounds and six assists to go with his four points.

Besides Wassenbergh, St. Joseph’s also received 14 points from Milford’s Costigan and 10 from Zanchi. Arsenault wound up with nine points and Steve Thombs had eight.

Costigan grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and Wassenbergh had five assists.

Like Wassenberg, Zanchi and Moore were also in foul trouble throughout the game for their respective teams in the tightly-officiated game.

Braves 90, Monks 79

St. Joseph’s Husson men

Name AG G AF F TP Name AG G AF F TP

Zanchi 6 3 4 4 10 Alley 20 11 8 7 33

Arsenault 12 4 0 0 9 Knowlton 8 4 0 0 9

Thombs 7 3 2 2 8 Mazurek 12 4 2 2 11

Wassenb’gh 15 8 7 7 23 Watkins 4 2 1 0 4

Sewer 7 3 0 0 6 Moore 5 3 4 4 10

Costigan 9 4 6 5 14 Jefferson 7 4 1 0 8

McGarry 2 1 0 0 2 Gerald 2 1 0 0 2

Shorey 2 0 0 0 0 Sinclair 4 2 2 1 5

Teahan 6 3 1 0 7 Joyner 3 0 0 0 0

Johnson 5 3 4 2 8

Totals 66 29 20 18 79 Totals 70 34 22 16 90

St. Joseph’s 27 79

Husson 40 90

3-pt. goals: St. Joseph’s 3-8: Teahan 1-2, Arsenault 1-2, Costigan 1-2, Thombs 0-1, McGarry 0-1: Husson 6-16: Alley 4-6, Mazurek 1-3, Knowlton 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Joyner 0-1