FARMINGTON — St. Joseph’s held off a late University of Maine at Farmington surge to take a 60-56 NCAA Division III non-conference men’s basketball win on Monday night in Dearborn Gymnasium.

An eight-point run to close the first half guided the Monks (2-1) to their first road win of the season, using key outside shooting to maintain the advantage until the final minute of the game.

“UMF did a good job getting us out of synch,” St. Joe’s coach Rob Sanicola said. “They got us out of rhythm and made a nice run at the end.”

Trailing 56-46 with 1:13 left in the game, UMF (0-3) caught fire on both ends of the court, outscoring St. Joe’s, 10-3. The Beavers cut the margin to 59-56 on Sean Murphy’s three-pointer with three seconds remaining.

UMF scraped the entire game playing out of an aggressive 2-3 zone that caused St. Joe’s plenty of problems throughout the game.

“We did very well defensively, but we need to find someone to make shots consistently,” UMF coach Dick Meader said. “I liked that we didn’t die when we got down and continued to work hard on defense.”

Nick Hilton led the Beavers with 17 points and five rebounds. His lay-up with 6:10 left in the first half knotted the game at 22-22.

St. Joe’s countered quickly, however, when Marc Corey scored inside, igniting an the surge that sent the Monks into halftime with a 30-22 lead.

Lay-ups by Quinn Richardson-Newton (11 points, 6 rebounds), Andrew Ruffen and John Crawley (game high 18 points) gave St. Joe’s plenty of momentum heading into the second half.

UMF’s tenacity on defense forced St. Joe’s into 18 turnovers, 10 coming in the second half.

“It’s always tough to get a win in here,” Sanicola said. “We are learning to do the things we need to win, especially learning to value the ball.”

St. Joe’s built its biggest lead of the game when the Monks sandwiched a pair of 3-point baskets around a UMF lay-up.

Ben Malloy struck from the right side and Crawley hit from the left to make it 51-37 with 7:50 remaining. Malloy and Crawley finished the game hitting four 3-pointers each.

Anfernee Dent got the Beavers back on track with a steal and two-handed slam, followed by a Hilton turn around off the glass cutting the lead to 51-41.

UMF worked hard over the next few minutes but was unable to sustain an offense to cut into the deficit until the final minute of the game.

Both teams hit 23 baskets from the field, with St. Joe’s taking 54 shots and UMF 63. The Monks were 9-of-26 from beyond the arc, while UMF finished 6-of-22.