Bears Open Conference Play with Win at Culinary

HYDE PARK, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team picked up their second consecutive win and fourth overall, defeating Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference (HVMAC) opponent, the Culinary Institute of America, 78-60 on Sunday afternoon. The win gets the Bears off to a 1-0 start in the HVMAC and evens their record at 4-4.

After Bears guard Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) kicked off the scoring with a layup in the opening seconds, the Steels (2-4, 0-1 HVMAC) played long-ball, connecting on five of six three-pointers to jump ahead 15-8 seven minutes into the contest.

Following Culinary's fifth three-pointer, St. Joseph's went on a 9-1 run to regain the lead 17-16 midway through the opening frame. The teams traded the lead back-and-forth, with neither gaining more than a three-point advantage until freshman Kevin Alesi (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) put the Bears up four with 1:08 left in the half. The Bears pushed the lead to six and headed into the lockers up 36-30.

Freshman forward Stephan Dimitrjevitch (Miami, FL/Varela), starting just his second career game, scored all 14 of his points in the first half and collected four rebounds. Dimitrjevitch shot 66% for the game, connecting on six of nine shots from the floor.

The Steels kept it close for the start of the second half, cutting the lead to two with 15:37 remaining, but the Bears used a 24-6 run in the next 6:08 to jump out to their largest lead of the game, 65-45. A pair of freshmen, reigning HVMAC Rookie of the Week David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) and Alesi helped build the lead, scoring eight and six points respectively during the run.

St. Joseph's maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, putting away the Steels, 78-60. The Bears saw four players score in double-figures led by Dimitrjevitch's 14. Gist and Alesi each had 12 and Louison scored 10 while also grabbing a game-high and season-best 18 rebounds en route to his fourth double-double in eight games.

For the fourth time in five games the Bears won the battle of the boards, bringing home a season-high 58 rebounds to Culinary's 47. St. Joseph's also held a distinct advantage outscoring the Steels 42-22 in the paint and converting 31 turnovers into 34 points. The Bears tied their season-high with six blocks, two apiece coming from sophomore David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) and John Moore (Glendale, NY/Archbishop Molloy).

Culinary was paced by guard Payne Harding who scored a game-high 28 points. Sam Sleman shot 50% (6-of-12) from the floor and recorded a double-double scoring 13 points and grabbing a team-high 13 rebounds.

The Bears play their final home game in 2011 on Saturday, December 10th as part a tripleheader with St. Joseph's College-Long Island. The men play in the nightcap starting at 8:00 p.m. with the women slated for 5:00 p.m. and women's swimming kicking off the day at 3:00 p.m.