NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The Southern Vermont College Mountaineers held off a feisty The College of St. Joseph's (Vt.) squad Friday night to advance to the championship round of the 2013 Tri-State Shootout hosted by Mass. College of Liberal Arts as they defeated the Fighting Saints 74-64.

With the win, SVC improves to 5-1 while CSJ drops to 6-6.

SVC had a balanced attack led by sophomore forward DeShawn Hamlet's (Hartford, Conn.) 15 points and eight rebounds. Freshman center Blair Manners (Auckland, New Zealand) chipped in with 11 as did sophomore captain and guard Antoine White (Germantown, Md.).

CSJ was led by junior guard Raheim Smalls' (Brooklyn, N.Y.) game-high 19 points. Junior forward Dre Anderson (Fort Worth, Texas) and senior forward Ramel Anderson (Roosevelt, N.Y.) each finished with 13 points while sophomore forward Michael Bowlers (Philadelphia, Pa.) had 11 off the bench.

After SVC opened up a sizable 38-25 lead at halftime, the Mountaineers held CSJ without a field goal for the opening five minutes of the second half to stretch the lead out to 20 points (58-38). From there though, the Fighting Saints would mount a rally.

They chipped away and eventually got within five points at 69-64 after Smalls drained three free throws. SVC would hold strong, though, rattling off the game's final five points to hold off CSJ for the 74-64 win.

Mountaineer freshman guard Davante Jordan (Great Mills, Md.) had nine points, grabbed five boards, dished out four assists and snagged three steals while junior forward Izzy Melton (Silver Spring, Md.) had nine points and three rebounds off the bench.

CSJ shot just 32 percent in the game compared to 40 percent for SVC. The two teams combined for 39 turnovers.

Southern Vermont will now play Saturday at 4 p.m. in the championship game against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who defeated MCLA 110-100 earlier Friday night while CSJ will take on the hosting Trailblazers in the consolation game at 2 p.m.