MBB: Monks Go Back-To-Back, Earn League's AQ Into 2026 NCAA Men's Tournament

Release Courtesy Of Saint Joseph's (Maine) Athletic Communications Department

STANDISH, Maine – #1 Saint Joseph's College (20-8) captured the 2026 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Basketball Championship on Sunday with a dominant 92-58 victory over #2 University of Saint Joseph (20-8) at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday, securing the program's second straight conference crown and third GNAC title overall. Saint Joseph's led from start to finish and outscored the Blue Jays in both halves (45-30, 47-28).

WHAT'S NEXT?

With the victory, Saint Joseph's secured the GNAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Monks will learn their first-round opponent and opening-round site on Monday when the NCAA unveils the complete Division III tournament bracket during the online selection show at 1:00 PM on www.ncaa.com. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Monks set the tone early, building a 12-4 lead and never trailing. After USJ knotted the contest 14-14 with 10:36 left in the first half, SJC answered immediately with a John Paul Frazier (York, Maine) three and gradually pulled away. Saint Joseph's closed the opening half on a strong run, pushing the lead to 45-30 by the break.

Saint Joseph's put the championship away in the opening minutes of the second half. The Monks opened the period with an 8-0 burst (including threes by Remijo Wani (Portland, Maine) and Tong Maiwen (Juba, South Sudan)) to stretch the lead to 53-30, then continued to pour it on behind perimeter shooting and transition offense. A Frazier three made it 64-35 with 14:04 left, and the Monks later pushed the cushion to 77-44 before closing out the 92-58 win.

BROKEN RECORD:

With 9:42 remaining in the second half, Frazier buried his 316th career three-pointer to break Saint Joseph's all-time program record for career triples. The mark was previously held by Nicholas Curtis '22, who made 315 three-pointers during his career.

STATS OF THE GAME:

Saint Joseph's shot 50.7% (34-67) from the floor, 43.3% (13-30) from three-point range, and 91.7% (11-12) from the free-throw line while holding USJ to 33.3% (22-66) shooting overall and 30.8% (4-13) from deep. The Monks were especially sharp after halftime, shooting 51.5% overall and 50.0% from three in the second half while limiting the Blue Jays to 32.4% shooting and 1-for-9 from beyond the arc in the period.

SJC also won the rebounding battle, 38-31, and piled up 19 assists on 34 made field goals. The Monks finished with 40 points in the paint and 16 second-chance points.

LEADERS - SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Remijo Wani: 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals
• John Paul Frazier: 20 points, 6 three-pointers, 3 assists
• Wani Donato (Sr., Portland, Maine): 17 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks
• Tong Maiwen: 10 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks
• Davis Mann (Fr., Falmouth, Maine): 10 points, 6 rebounds

LEADERS - UNIVERSITY OF SAINT JOSEPH:

• Roel Figueroa (So., Cidra, P.R.): 18 points
• Lence Altenor (Sr., Everett, Mass.): 12 points, 8 rebounds
• Friedrich Feldrappe (Sr., Berlin, Germany): 8 points, 4 rebounds
• Babacar Gadiaga (Fr., Dakar, Senegal): 7 points, 6 rebounds
• Jakari Tertulien (So., Bridgeport, Conn.): 6 points

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 3-9 all-time against University of Saint Joseph. For the Blue Jays, the 34-point setback marks the largest margin of defeat in the eight-year history of the USJ men's basketball program.

2026 GNAC Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team

• MVP – Remijo Wani, Saint Joseph's College
• Wani Donato, Saint Joseph's College
• John Paul Frazier, Saint Joseph's College
• Friedrich Feldrappe, University of Saint Joseph
• Roel Figueroa, University of Saint Joseph
• Ta'zhon Daniels, Albertus Magnus College
• Mahari Guerrier, Emmanuel College

ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 14 member institutions and over 4000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.

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