Bears Come Up Empty in Shootout with Albany Pharmacy

ALBANY, NY – Senior Donald Coleman (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) scored a career-high 32 points, but it wasn't enough as the Bears were staved off by Albany Pharmacy, 93-83. Freshman Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) added 24 points in just the fourth conference loss for the Bears in the last six years. St. Joseph's falls to 6-15 on the year and 4-2 in the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference.

The two teams played tight midway thru the first half, with neither team grabbing more than a five point advantage. A three pointer by Casey Redfern gave the Panthers their first double-digit lead of the game, 32-22, with 6:41 to play.

St. Joseph's came back and closed the half with a 15-9 run to head into the lockers down 41-37. Coleman scored 20 of his 32 points in the first half, connecting on 8-of-11 shots from the floor.

The Bears kept the game close to start the second half and Rogowski's layup tied the game at 49-49 with just under 15 minutes left. The Panthers quickly nailed two trifectas on their following two possessions to regain a six point lead.

The Bears at arm's length for the next 12 minutes before Albany started to pull away. Rogowski's three with 2:14 remaining brought the Bears back down nine and injected some life into the bench.

Albany refused to allow the Bears to comeback though, connecting on 6-of-7 free throws down the stretch to ice the game. The Panthers shot the lights out of building, shooting 51% from the floor for the game and 46% from deep, while also hitting 85% from the charity stripe.

In addition to Coleman and Rogowski scoring 20+ points, Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) added 13 points for his third straight game in double figures. He also swiped eight steals, the most by a Bear since TJ Barnes in 2005.

The Warriors were led by their quartet of double-digit scorers. Zack Bratek paced Albany with 30 points and Ben Sheppard came off the bench to add 25. Albany cleaned up well on the boards, holding a 50-34 rebounding edge. Bratek grabbed 19 of them for the double-double.

St. Joseph's returns to Brooklyn Technical High School as they enter the final stretch of the regular season on Monday, February 7, against Medgar Evers. The Bears will look to continue their recent success at home where they are winners of two of their last three. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.