Medgar Evers Overpowers Bears; Coleman Named AD3I Player of the Week

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College men's basketball team hung tough with cross-borough foe Medgar Evers College, but the Cougars broke open the contest in the second half taking a 100-69 victory in a high-scoring, high-flying affair on Monday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The Bears got out to a quick start taking an 8-2 lead with an Ismael Dabo (Bloomfield, NJ/St. John's Prep) layup at the 16:37 mark, but that be the largest lead the Bears would see as Medgar Evers would storm back to take the lead and quickly extended it to 10 on a dunk by Winston Douglas. Despite suffering a size disadvantage to the Medgar Evers and giving up a 28-16 rebound disadvantage, St. Joseph's managed to keep the Cougars at bay for the remainder of the half and trailed by only eight at the break, 45-37.

Coming out of the lockers, Medgar Evers used an uptempo offense and hot shooting to push the lead to 20 where it remained out of danger. The Cougars converted on 55 percent of their attempts in the half, while the Bears couldn't keep pace, dropping to a 31 percent rate after shooting 42 percent in the first half.

Donald Coleman (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) led the Bears (6-16, 4-2 HVMAC) with 15 points, seven coming from the charity stripe, with six rebounds.  Earlier today, Coleman was named the Association of Division III Independents (AD3I) Player of the Week for the second time this season, recognizing his efforts in the week ending February 6.  Coleman shot 58 percent from the floor last week averaging 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds after posting his sixth double-double of the season against Vaughn and a career-high 32 point effort against Albany Pharmacy. 

Dabo finished with 11 points and six rebounds, sharing team high honors with Coleman. Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) added nine points and dished out four assists and Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) also added nine points.

Medgar Evers (12-10, 9-2 CUNYAC) was paced by Winston Douglas who led all scorers with 23 points. Tony Sims contributed 22 points in a reserve role, all coming in the second half. James Gilmore chipped in 16 points.

St. Joseph's returns to the hardwood on Thursday, February 10 travelling to Media, Pennsylvania for a USCAA tilt against number one ranked Williamson Free Trade School.