With the win, the Monks improved to 2-0 and secured possession of the Costello Cup, presented annually to the winner of the contest between the two schools, for the fifth straight year.  Contested over the past 23 years, the Costello Cup honors the late Richard "Doc" Costello, former USM Athletic Director and long-time basketball coach.  The loss was the first of the season for the Huskies after a three-game winning streak to open the 2012-13 campaign. St. Joseph's leads the series 15-8.

            Simonds was one of three Monks players to reach double figures in scoring.  Junior forward Nicholas Jobin (Westbrook, Maine) and junior guard Matthew Medeiros (Westport, Mass.) added 13 and 12 points each as the Monks shot an outstanding 50.9 percent (28-for-55) from the field. 

            Southern Maine junior guard Conor Sullivan (Scarborough, Maine) led all scorers with 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds.  Senior guard Alex Kee (Bath, Maine/Morse) added 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while classmate Mike Poulin (Readfield, Maine/Maranacook) added eight points, six rebounds and seven assists.

            Ahead by six, 30-24, at the half, the Monks opened the second stanza with a 7-2 run to take control of the contest.  Simonds factored heavily into the run for the Monks assisting on the first two baskets and canning a three at 17:10 for a 37-26 SJC lead.

            Both teams traded baskets over the next several minutes and USM pulled to within six points of the Monks, 41-35 on a layup from sophomore center Tanner Storey (Cumberland, Maine/Greely) with 14:15 to play, but the Monks responded with a 9-2 run for a 50-37 lead.  Four different players contributed to the run for SJC, highlighted by a three from Medeiros.  From there USM never got any closer than nine points the rest of the way as the Monks cruised to the 70-56 final. 

–cac–