Bears Comeback Attempt Against Mount Saint Vincent In Home Opener Falls Short

Senior Ervin Maddox (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) scored a team-high 23 points and sophomore Justin Gist(Brooklyn, NY / Newsome) added 18 points and nine rebounds in a 88-79 loss to Mount Saint Vincent in front of a near sellout crowd for the Men's Basketball home opener on Monday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

St. Joseph's fell behind early with Mount Saint Vincent finding their range behind the arc and ball movement yielding many open looks.  Coach Cocozello turned to his bench to solve the matchup problems with the size and range of MSV.  The Bears were also unable to find any answers offensively committing 11 turnovers and shooting only 31 percent in the half compared to the Dolphins 44 percent.  After a three-pointer from Nick DiMaggio which brought the Mount Saint Vincent lead to double digits, SJC went on a 9-2 run on long range shots from Ervin Maddox and Antoine Forehand to cut the deficit to 3 points at 27-24 with 8:53 to play in the half.  However, the Dolphins mounted their own 13-1 run to quickly bring their lead back to 15 and took a 43-31 advantage into the lockers.

Early in the second half two quick fouls from Ervin Maddox and Justin Gist put the Bears leading scorers in early foul trouble.  It appeared Mount Saint Vincent would easily maintain their lead in double-digits, but similar to the first half, the Bears chipped away, finding some offensive rhythm and outrebounding MSV to capitalize on 13 second chance points.  Down only three with 10 minutes left to play brought the crowd into the game, inciting loud cheers of "de-fense!"  However, like to the first half after cutting the lead to one possession, the Dolphins staged a 19-4 run to amass an 18 point lead, the largest of the game, with four minutes left to play.  St. Joe's chopped away at the lead again to six points at 83-77 with one minute left to play, but would find themselves just short of time and fouls, the pressure defense committing 19 team fouls and high scorer Ervin Maddox fouling out.

Four Bears scored in double-figures.  Maddox shot 4 for 7 from behind the arc and 8 for 14 from the field. Despite scoring 18, Gist struggled to find his range, shooting 6 for 23, but added four assists and three steals.  Freshman Roy Wickstrom (Staten Island, NY / St. Peter's) was solid down low turning in his first career double-double netting 10 points and 12 boards.  Freshman Antoine Forehand(New York, NY / Rice) added 11 points, six rebounds and three steals in a reserve role.  Mount Saint Vincent was led by the sharpshooting of Joe Cook and Nick DiMaggio who combined to hit for eight three pointers for 25 and 18 points respectively. 

The loss drops St. Joseph's record to 1-2 and the win improves Mount Saint Vincent's record to 2-2.  The Bears will have a week off returning to action on Monday, December 1st on the road to take on local foe Pratt Institute, opening their defense of the Hudson Valley Conference title.  Game time is scheduled for 7:30 PM.