BANGOR, ME - The Husson University men's basketball team turned a 60-58 deficit into a 68-63 lead late and held on to defeat St. Joseph's 68-66 on Thursday night at Newman Gymnasium. The Eagles improve to 1-0 on the year while the Monks fall to 0-1. 

Trailing 60-58 with 7:24 left, Raheem Anderson (Everglades, FL) and Mitch Worcester (Washburn, ME) made back-to-back three pointers that gave Husson a four-point edge. 

Steve Simonds answered with a three for St. Joseph's, but jumpers by Aaron Willis (New York, NY) and Trevon Butler (Waterbury, CT) gave the Eagles a 68-63 lead with 1:19 remaining. 

St. Joseph's got within two with 31 seconds left, the Eagles clamped down on defense to only give up a tough three-point look from the corner and come away with the win. 

"This was a great game to start with against a really good opponent," said Husson head coach Warren Caruso. "We were able to put some things together and make plays. Now we have to look ahead to Saturday."

The Eagles took a 37-32 lead into halftime courtesy of Anderson, who scored 11 of his 14 in the first stanza and Butler who had nine of his 19 in the first 20 minutes. Anderson added seven rebounds, three assists and three steals for the game while Butler contributed four steals. 

St. Joseph's was led by Simonds who had 26 points and eight rebounds. 

The Eagles return to the court on Saturday when Bates comes to the Newman Gym for a 4 p.m. game.