Eagles Soar Over Men’s Basketball With Second Half Shooting

BROOKLYN, NY – St. Joseph's College-Long Island shot 64.9% in the second half to extend a two point halftime lead and pull away from St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn to win 105-78, in the marquee game of the inaugural "Clash for the Cup" doubleheader marking the annual sibling rivalry between the campuses.  Senior guard Lew Monaco (Staten Island, NY/Msgr. Farrell) paced Brooklyn for the second straight game with 17 points.  Trey Black (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point) led all scorers and four Eagles in double figures with 29 points.

Monaco opened the scoring with the first of his four triples, giving the Bears a 3-0 lead.  Brooklyn then committed seven straight turnovers, allowing the Eagles to score 12 unanswered points.  The Bears regained their bearings, putting together a 13-2 run to take back the lead midway through the period, 16-14, igniting the record home crowd.  Both teams traded baskets before the Eagles pulled away building a nine point lead, 38-29, with two minutes remaining in the half.  Brooklyn came alive and momentum swung back in their favor as they outscored Long Island 8-1 in the final two minutes, highlighted by a Larry Fawcett (Middle Village, NY/Christ the King) four-point play, bringing the crowd to its feet seeing their team trailing by only two at the break, 39-37.

It would be a tale of two halves, as the Bears could not keep pace with the high-powered offense of the defending Skyline Champions and NCAA Tournament participants.  The Eagles opened the second stanza with a 22-3 run over the first five minutes, which included 11 points in a one minute span from a pair of triples from Chris Jimenez (Huntington Station, NY/St. Anthony's) and another from Black.  For the half, five different Eagles connected from distance to shoot 70.0% (7-for-10) from behind the arc.  A Jon Matzelle (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) trifecta with 9:14 left cut the deficit to 17, but that would be the closest Brooklyn would come.

Long Island combined to shoot 53.5% for the game while Brooklyn shot 38.1%.  The Eagles were opportunistic with the Bears miscues, converting 26 turnovers into 37 points, while Brooklyn could only muster 13 points off 15 Eagles turnovers.  The Bears kept pace with the Eagles on the boards, only trailing by five (44-39).

Monaco fell one rebound short (9) of his first career double-double, besting his career high he set against Rutgers-Camden in the last game.  Matzelle turned in his second double-double of the season, both coming at home, with a 14 point, game-high 11 rebound performance.  Sophomore transfer Dom Orlando scored a career high with 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting in only 19 minutes of work coming in as a reserve.  Sophomore guard Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) rounded out the Bears in double figures chipping in 12 points.

Black carried the Eagles in the first half, scoring 17 of their 39 first half points.  The sophomore guard only missed four shots all night, shooting 10-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-4 from three-point land, and was 5-for-7 from the charity stripe.  Sophomore center Shahab Syed (Huntington, NY/St. Anthony's) tallied a 14 point, 10 rebound double-double.  Jimenez finished with 12 points and a game-high four assists.

The win for Long Island also clinched the inaugural St. Joseph's Cup with the women's basketball team also winning earlier in the day.  In addition to winning the Cup, which will reside on the Patchogue campus until the teams meet again next season, $750 will be awarded to their charity of choice, the American Diabetes Association.  The Brooklyn Campus, who was playing for the Special Olympics, will have $250 awarded to their charity.

The Bears have a three-week hiatus before returning to action in the new year, travelling to Biddeford, ME, their third different state this season, for the University of New England Tournament on January 2-3.  The Bears face the host school in the opening round and pending outcome will be paired with either Husson University or Trinity College.