Bears Fall to Staten Island on Senior Night

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College men's basketball team concluded their 2009-10 regular season with an 87-59 defeat at the hands of the College of Staten Island on Tuesday night at Brooklyn Technical High School as the team celebrated Senior Night.

Senior forward Mike Dziewit (Ridgewood, NY/Wadleigh) led St. Joseph's (8-16, 6-0 HVMAC) with 13 points, four rebounds and three steals.  Senior guard Lew Monaco (Staten Island, NY/Msgr. Farrell) and junior forward Jon Matzelle (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) each added 11 points, with Monaco grabbing a team-high seven boards.  The backcourt duo of Justin Gist (Newsome, FL/Newsome) and Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) chipped in eight points each.

Staten Island (12-12, 6-6 CUNYAC) was led by double-double performances from sophomore forward Jordan Young (Wall, NJ/Wall) who scored a game-high 24 points and senior forward Christian Montervino (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) scoring 21 points, both grabbing a game-high 12 boards.  Senior Ryan Hennessey (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea) added 14 and sophomore Dale Taranto (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) chipped in 10.  Montervino, Taranto and Hennessey dished out five assists each, sharing game-high honors.

St. Joseph's struggled to find their range all night, shooting only 32 percent for the contest.  Staten Island utilized quick ball movement in the half court to generate open shots and attacked in transition to shoot 53 percent from the floor and combined for 21 assists, accounting for nearly two-thirds of their field goals.  The Dolphins also held a 55-35 rebounding advantage.

After a Wilkerson Exantus (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) layup opened the scoring, Staten Island went on a 16-4 run to build a 10 point lead, which they maintained for most of the period.  Just under seven minutes left in the half, back-to-back jumpers by Matzelle and Dziewit cut the deficit to five, 25-20, prompting a CSI timeout.  Staten Island closed out the half 16-6 and took a 41-26 lead at the break.

In the second half, Staten Island extended their lead to 20 in the first four minutes and the Bears were unable to bring the game back within reach.  The Dolphins shot 57 percent (17-for-30) in the second stanza making the task even harder.

St. Joseph's attempts to capture their second Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference title beginning post-season play on Saturday, January 20.  The Bears face #4 Culinary Institute in the semifinal round of the HVMAC Tournament held at Albany Pharmacy.  Should they win, they will face the winner of the second semifinal between #2 Albany Pharmacy / #3 Vaughn in the championship game on Sunday.