Bears Unable to Snap Skid Against City Tech

BROOKLYN, NY – St. Joseph's College team fell 78-59 to local rival City Tech in a non-conference men's basketball game at the Klitgord Center on Monday night.  Junior forward Jon Matzelle (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) led the Bears in defeat, recording his third double-double of the season but St. Joseph's was unable to contain Gabriel Davis who led all scorers with 38 points.

Matzelle amassed 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting which included one trifecta and a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe.  He also pulled down a season-high matching 11 rebounds (nine defensive), which also led the team.  Senior guard Lew Monaco (Staten Island, NY/Msgr. Farrell) had 13 points and had six rebounds and three assists.  Junior guard Justin Gist (Newsome, FL/Newsome) added 11 points as a reserve, in his second game back, while grabbing seven boards with four steals.

Davis' 38 points (13-24 FG, 3-5 3FG, 9-16 FT) were the most surrendered by St. Joseph's since Ryan Hennessey scored 35 during an 82-75 loss to College of Staten Island on February 12, 2008.  Michael Robinson added 12 points and fell one rebound short of a double-double and Fitzgerald Charles grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds (13 defensive).

Poor shooting and turnovers proved to be the difference as the Bears connected on only 30.3% of their field goal attempts, their fourth lowest output this season, while City Tech shot 42.9% for the game.  St. Joseph's also committed 22 turnovers, which the Yellow Jackets converted into 31 points.  

City Tech outscored St. Joseph's 13-4 in the opening 4:17 prompting a coach Joseph Cocozello timeout.  The Bears prevented the Yellow Jacket lead from extending to double-digits and cut the deficit to three on two occasions, the second coming with 2:33 left in the half on one of Gist's two three-pointers for the game.  However, City Tech would score the final four points to take a 32-25 lead into the lockers.

St. Joseph's fought hard to keep the game within reach in the second half, but midway through the period, a five minute scoring drought allowed City Tech to open a 20 point lead and the Bears would get no closer than 16 points for the remainder of the game.

St. Joseph's falls to 1-10, extending their losing streak to nine games, which matches the skid the women's basketball team suffered last season.  City Tech picks up their first win of the season and improves to 1-13.

The Bears return to the court on Wednesday, January 13th as they open Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference play squaring off against Vaughn College (6-6, 2-0 HVMAC), who currently sits atop the conference.  Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Elmcor Recreation Center in Corona, NY.