Bears Can't Slay Hot Shooting Knights In Home Opener

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team dropped a 74-64 decision to USCAA foes Vermont Technical College on Monday evening in their home opener at Brooklyn Technical High School.

St. Joseph's (1-3) was paced by Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) who netted 24 points, 20 coming in the second half. The Bears were also buoyed by a pair of double-doubles from their rookies. Freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) had 12 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds (eight offensive) and Stephan Dimitrjevitch (Miami, FL/Varela) scored 10 points and pulled down 11 boards in a reserve role.

Vermont Tech (6-0), who finished last year ranked #1 in the USCAA, was led by freshman Tevon Erwin who had 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting to go along with four blocks. Senior Kevin Carr tallied 15 points and Alex Tyrrell chipped in 11 points for the Knights who shot 52% for the contest (29-of-56).

The Knights connected on their first three attempts to pull ahead early. A jumper byIsmael Dabo (Long Island City, NY/St. John's Prep) at the 15:31 mark gave the Bears their first lead of the game at 8-7, but sloppy play opened up a 12-2 run for the Knights with the Bears committing four turnovers and quickly finding themselves down 19-10 over a three and a half minute span.

Vermont Tech maintained their distance from the Bears for the remainder of the half, extending to as many as 12 before taking a nine point advantage into the lockers, 32-23. The Bears were hampered by -0-for-10 shooting from behind the arc, which lead to a 32 percent output from the floor in the half.

St. Joseph's opened the second period on a 12-3 run over the first four minutes to knot the game at 35-35. A pair of Dimitrjevitch free throws with 14:49 gave the Bears their first lead in 20 minutes, 39-38, and with the game tied again, a Gist trifeca brought the crowd back to life giving the Bears a 42-39 lead, which would be their largest of the game.

But the Bears would go without a field goal for five minutes, and Vermont Tech slowly began to pull away from thanks in large part to 57 percent shooting for the half. St. Joseph's tried to chip away at the lead again, but on two separate occasions, an Erwin three-pointer extended the Knights lead to nine.

A Dimitrjevitch layup with 53 seconds remaining cut the deficit to six leaving hope for a comeback, but the Bears would be unable to score another field goal and the Knights put the game away from the free throw line.

For the game, the Knights dominated in the paint, outscoring the Bears 38-22. St. Joseph's won the battle of the boards, 44-37, including a 17-5 advantage on the offensive glass, but only managed to produce nine second chance points.

St. Joseph's returns to action after the Thanksgiving break, hosting John Jay College on Saturday, November 26 in a non-conference showdown at Brooklyn Technical High School. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.