Bears Cruise Past Philadelphia Bible in Home Opener

BROOKLYN, NY - Making the most out of the experience of playing a Division I school, the St. Joseph's College men's basketball team  (1-1) cruised to a 78-51 victory over Philadelphia Bible (0-1) in the team's home opener on Wednesday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

For the second straight game, junior Jon Matzelle(Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) led the Bears in the win, tying a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds.

Philadelphia Bible scored a three-pointer on the opening possession, but back-to-back triples from Matzelle and Larry Fawcett (Middle Village, NY/Christ the King) earned the Bears the lead which they wouldn't relinquish.  St. Joseph's extended the lead to 11 on several occasions during the opening frame, the same margin they would take into the locker room.

The Bears opened the second frame with an 18-3 run over an eight minute span to put the game firmly within control.  A three-pointer from Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) with 1:29 to play gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 32.

St. Joseph's held a distinct 52-29 rebounding advantage and scored 14 second chance points.  The Bears also shot an efficient 49 percent (32-for-65) from the field including 42 percent (8-for-19) from behind the arc.

Wilkerson Exantus (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) was the only other Bear in double figures posting 11 points and six rebounds.  Ismael Dabo (Bloomfield, NJ/St. John's Prep) tied for a team-high eight rebounds. Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) and Mike Dziewit (Ridgewood, NY/Wadleigh) added nine points apiece.  Forehand also dished out six assists.  Fawcett finished with eight points to round out the balanced attack that had 11 Bears scoring and combining for 33 bench points.

Willie Miller led Philadelphia Bible with 14 points and four rebounds and Ben Fuller added 10 points and eight rebounds in defeat.

St. Joseph's has a day off before travelling to Pennsylvania for the Widener University Tip-Off Tournament.  In the opening round on Friday, the Bears face host Widener who are the three-time defending Commonwealth Conference champions and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.  St. Joseph's will face either Husson or Trinity on Saturday afternoon.