Bears Lose Overtime Heartbreaker to Golden Eagles

BROOKLYN, NY – Forty minutes wasn't enough to decide the nightcap in the East Meets West tripleheader. The Bears and Golden Eagles needed overtime to declare a winner. The Golden Eagles were able to put up 19 points in the extra five minutes to take the win, 86-77. The loss puts the Bears back under .500 at 4-5 for the season.

Both teams were anxious out of the gates, missing the first four combined shots. The Bears were able to strike first on a conventional three-point play from Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice). With the score knotted at 10 apiece, the Golden Eagles went on a run to take a six point lead on the strength of two three-pointers from Chris Jimenez and Trey Black. David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) answered with a trifecta of his own, but the Eagles maintained at least a three-point advantage for much of the opening half.

Back-to-back three-pointers from Olivier Laurent and Jimenez stretched the Golden Eagle lead to 11, 31-21, the largest of the game with 7:11 remaining in the first half. The Golden Eagles went cold the rest of the way, shooting just 1-for-12 as the half expired and coughed up six turnovers.

With a chance to crack into the lead, the Bears did just that. While the Eagles scored only two points in the last 7:11 of the first half, the Bears cashed in with 15, including five from Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) to take a two-point lead, 35-33 into the lockers.

The Eagles (7-0, 3-0 Skyline) who came in shooting 47% from the floor, saw only 31% (12-for-39) of their shots fall in the opening frame. The Bears used nine Golden Eagle turnovers to score 12 points and were able to put back seven second-chance points as they regained the lead at the half.

The Bears' lead didn't last long as the visiting Golden Eagles quickly tied the game up at 37-37. The fast-paced second half saw seven ties and seven lead changes and neither team was able to gain more than a four-point advantage.

The two teams went back-and-forth trading baskets and the lead. With no time left on the shot-clock Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) knifed through the Golden Eagle defense to hit a layup and put the Bears on top 62-58 with 6:31 remaining in the contest.

The Bears went into a 1-for-7 funk after Maddox's layup and allowed the Golden Eagles to regain the lead on another Black triple. The Bears quickly tied it again with a layup from Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep).

With 1:50 remaining, the Golden Eagles converted 1-of-2 free throw attempts from Jimenez to take a 67-66 lead. After a Black turnover, Gist was sent to the line where he had been 6-for-6 on the night. Gist hit 1-of-2 to tie the game at 67-all.

A failed three-point attempt by Vincent Russo gave the Bears the ball back with 1:02 remaining. Coach Joseph Cocozello called a timeout to set up his offense. The Bears got off four potential game-winning shots in under a minute, but none of them found the bottom of the net and time ran out with the game deadlocked at 67-67.

The Bears defense held the Golden Eagles to their worst shooting performance of the season at 37% (25-for-68) at the end of regulation. But they couldn't keep them down in overtime.

The Golden Eagles scored the first six points in overtime, jumping out to a 73-67 lead in the first minute and 18 seconds. Forehand connected on a three to give the Bears some life, but the Golden Eagles went 6-of-7 from the field in the extra frame, hitting their first six shots in overtime. All the Bears could do was foul, sending the Golden Eagles to the free-throw line nine times. The Golden Eagles were able to put the game away scoring six times from the charity stripe, defeating the Bears 86-77.

Rogowski put together an 18-point 18-rebound double-double, his first of the season. The 18 rebounds were also a career-high for the forward. Gist (16), Forehand (15) and Maddox (12) also cracked double-digit points for the Bears.

The Golden Eagles got a game-high 25 points off the bench from Shahab Syed. Syed was 10-of-15 from the floor, grabbed 10 boards and blocked three shots. Black filled out the stat-sheet with 24 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

The Bears travel across the Holland Tunnel and into New Jersey to take on Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology on December 12th at 7:00 pm. The game is the last for the Bears until the Centenary College Holiday Tournament on December 29th and 30th.