Men’s Basketball Defeats Staten Island in Opening Round of Tournament of Heroes

(STATEN ISLAND, NY)  Five Bears scored in double figures on Sunday night in a 76-65 win in the first round of the 7th Annual Tournament of Heroes, upsetting the host College of Staten Island.  St. Joseph's improves to 4-5 and College of Staten Island remains winless at 0-8.

Both teams went back and forth throughout the first half with neither team able to secure more than a 4 point advantage.  Two free throws from Dolphin Ryan Hennessey with 3:26 remaining tied the game for the fourth time at 25-25.  St. Joseph's closed out the half on a 10-4 run with senior Luke Klimaszewski (Queens, NY / St. John's Prep) contributing 5 of his 10 first-half points as a reserve, giving the Bears a 35-29 at the half.

A trifecta and layup from sophomore Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY / Newsome) to open the half extended the Bears lead to 9 but the Dolphins would fight back to cut the deficit to 2, six minutes into the second 20, the closest Staten Island would get.  The Bears stormed back with a 12-2 run over the next 3:47, capped by a layup from Wilkerson Exantus(Brooklyn, NY / Nazareth) midway through the half gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 12.  In the last four minutes, St. Joseph's shot 12-for-16 from the charity stripe in the bonus to maintain their lead and sealing the 76-65 victory.

The Bears outshot the Dolphins 43.1% (25-for-58) to 31.4% (22-for-70) and shot an impressive 52.9% (9-for-17) from behind the arc, with six Bears connecting from long range.  Staten Island controlled the offensive glass grabbing 22 offensive boards but were only able to convert them into 12 second chance points. 

St. Joseph's had a balanced attack with Justin Gist, Ervin Maddox (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's), Jon Matzelle(Queens, NY / St. Francis Prep) and Luke Klimaszewski each tallying 13 points.  Wilkerson Exantus added 12 points, all coming in the second half, and grabbed a team high nine rebounds.  Ervin Maddox and Przemyslaw Kudla (Brooklyn, NY / St. John's Prep) each dished out a game high eight assists with Kudla also grabbing eight boards.  Staten Island was led with a double-double performance turned in by Jordan Young (22 points, 12 rebounds).  Mike Pulci and Christian Montervino added 14 and 13 points respectively.

St. Joseph's faces Trine University (3-7) in the Championship game.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM at the CSI Sports and Recreation Center.