BANGOR – Basketball coaches sit up late at night pondering the situation Husson’s Warren Caruso found himself in against bitter Maine Athletic Conference rival St. Joseph’s College on Thursday night.

Down two. Thirty seconds to play. Do you shoot early? Or do you play for the last shot?

One player in the Husson lineup made that decision a bit more simple. His name is Robert Pilsbury.

“I’m not saying the decision was easy, but it’s one of those things that, he can get that done,” Caruso said.

Pilsbury got the ball at the top of the key with 10 seconds to go, bided his time for five more seconds, then unleashed a fade-away 22-footer from the left wing that settled through the net and into the waiting hands of teammate Scott Griffin with three ticks left. The final: Braves 64, Monks 63.

“That’s my favorite kind of rebound,” Griffin said with a grin.

Husson improved to 11-7, 6-0 in the MAC. The Monks dropped to 10-7, 4-4.

Caruso said there was no real choice involved. The NAIA All-American was getting the ball. And he was going to win the game.

“He relishes that. He couldn’t wait. You could see it in his eyes,” Caruso said.

Pilsbury, who scored 18 of his 30 points after intermission, made a triumphant return to action after sitting out two games for a violation of a team rule.

The teams were deadlocked six times – at 48, 50, 52, 54, 57 and 59 – over the final 10 minutes of the game before Brandon Stewart gave the Monks a 62-59 lead with a conventional 3-point play at the 55-second mark.

Husson’s Randy Fletcher, who sat out all but 3:26 of the first half with three fouls, made it 62-61 when he converted a Quinson Lancaster feed with 43 seconds to go. St. Joseph’s answered with a free throw from Jimmy Ahern at the 35-second mark, which set the stage for Pilsbury.

“Coach said give the ball to me, and for me to do what I want – to take the 3 or take the 2,” Pilsbury. “I got C.J. [Vose] with the pump fake, and just decided to take the 3 and win the game.”

Pilsbury fired the shot from directly in front of the Husson bench, so Caruso had a perfect view of the game-winner.

“As soon as it left his hand, it looked pure as can be,” Caruso said.

Griffin finished with 10 points and six rebounds and held St. Joseph’s star Vose to eight points on 3-for-13 shooting.

“I got a lot of help from the rest of the team. They were always aware of where he was,” Griffin said. “The thought is basically to deny him the ball and when he does catch the ball, make him put it on the floor.”

Caruso said the assignment was a switch: Fletcher usually guards Vose, but he informed Griffin of the change on Wednesday.

“He did a really nice job on him, making him work for what he got,” Caruso said. “I don’t know what he got, but I just felt that he was working hard to get all those shots, and that’s what we wanted to do was limit his good looks.”

Nate Cyr added 16 points for the Braves.

St. Joseph’s was led by substitute Steve Monteiro, who scored 17 points in 27 minutes. Bilal Dawan-Abdullah added 16 and Stewart finished with 10.

“I can’t say enough about the team effort, because we didn’t play well,” Caruso said. “[Lancaster], Ryan [Rivera] and Randy had four points, didn’t play a lot of minutes and didn’t play well.

“But other people stepped up and did some things, and right now that’s what we’re doing.”

BRAVES 64, MONKS 63

Saint Joseph’s (10-7) Husson (11-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

McPherson 3 5 1 2 8 Fletcher 2 4

Ahern 1 2 1 2 3 Rivera 0 3 0

Vose 3 13 2 2 8 Lancaster 0 7 0

Dawan-Abdulh 6 13 2 3 16 Pilsbury 10 20 7 9 30

Stewart 3 10 4 4 10 Griffin 3 6 10

Underwood 0 0 0 0 0 Armenakis 0 0

Pratt 0 0 0 0 0 Galley 2 3 4

Drayer 0 2 1 2 1 Cunningham 0 0

Monteiro 8 15 0 0 17 Cyr 6 10 16

Totals 24 60 11 15 63 Totals 23 59 12 14 64

Saint Joseph’s 35 63

Husson 30 64

3-pt. goals ? Saint Joseph’s (4-9): McPherson 1-2, Vose 0-1, Dawan-Abdullah 2-4, Monteiro 1-2; Husson (6-20): Fletcher 0-1, Rivera 0-2, Lancaster 0-5, Pilsbury 3-6, Cunningham 0-2, Cyr 3-4

Attendance: 600 (est.)