Bears Comeback in HVMAC Championship Falls Short

(BRONXVILLE, NY)  St. Joseph's was unable to overcome a 13 point second-half deficit in a 75-71 loss to Berkeley College in the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference Championship held at Sarah Lawrence College on Sunday afternoon.  Both teams have squared off for the HVMAC title the past four years with St. Joseph's entering each tournament as the regular season champion, but Berkeley snatched away the title from the Bears for the third time.  St. Joseph's has not lost to Berkeley in the last 14 regular season meetings.

The early moments would prove that this game would be vastly different from the regular season game just one month ago, which the Bears took 72-60 with the Knights shooting only 28 percent for the game.  Berkeley used their athleticism to generate scoring opportunities and converted them into a nine-point lead midway through the first half.  St. Joseph's fought back and a layup from Wilkerson Exantus (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) equalized the game at 28-28.  On the Bears' next possession, Lew Monaco(Staten Island, NY/Msgr. Farrell) hit a triple to cap a 13-3 run giving the Bears their first lead of the game with 2:57 left. 

An administrative error at the end of the half swung the momentum back in Berkeley's favor.  With the game tied, 20 seconds left and a two second differential between the shot and game clocks, St. Joseph's held for the last shot.  The shot clock was inadvertently reset and the referees did not notice the error until 8.5 seconds left.  The Bears retained possession, but were forced to restart their offensive set inbounding from midcourt with only 6 seconds on the shot clock.  James Dorismond stole the inbounds pass and was fouled by Ervin Maddox(Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) to prevent the easy layup.  Dorismond sank both free throws to give Berkeley the two point halftime lead.

St. Joseph's came out of the locker room scoring on their first three possessions to take a 37-33 lead.  Berkeley then appeared to be the beneficiary of several controversial calls that swung the momentum heavily in their favor.  With the Bears still up two and driving on an odd-man fast break, the pass from Przemyslaw Kudla(Brooklyn, NY/St. John's Prep) was deflected by a Berkeley defender but ruled Knight's ball.  Berkeley then hit back-to-back triples to go up by four.  On the ensuing Bears' possession, Jon Matzelle(Queens, NY/St. Francis Prep) was then called for a personal foul and then a quick technical, for his fourth foul of the game.  Two possessions later, coach Joseph Cocozellowas hit with a questionable quick technical foul.  Over a three minute span, Berkeley went on a 15-0 run and St. Joe's found themselves down 50-37.

The complexion of the game changed as Berkeley appeared to be a much stronger team with a lead, buoyed by their fans and cheerleaders.  The Bears were forced to take more 3-pointers to stage a comeback and had the additional pressure of losing another championship game as the favorite.

St. Joseph's managed to cut the deficit to two on multiple occasions, but missed several shots and committed some key turnovers down the stretch that allowed Berkeley to open their lead back to eight.  The Bears made one last run with under a minute to play holding Berkeley to a two-possession game and sending the Knights to the foul line in the bonus.  St. Joe's was on the wrong end of another controversial foul call with 18 seconds left that would have cut the Knights lead to three and also fouled Matzelle out of the game.  A late Maddox trifecta with 3.1 seconds left cut the lead to two and left a glimmer of hope, but the Bears were unable to defend the inbounds play to finish the comeback.

Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) led St. Joseph's with 20 points.  Maddox added 16 points while dishing out eight assists with four rebounds, playing in his final collegiate game.  In the post-game ceremonies, Gist and Maddox were named to the 2008-09 HVMAC All-Conference Team.  Donald Coleman(Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) fell one rebound shy of a double-double, posting a 12 point, nine rebound performance.  Monaco finished 10 points in a reserve role.

Jonathan Pena led the Knights with 27 points and six rebounds and was named tournament MVP. James Dorismond finished with 22 points, six steals, and five rebounds.