Five Bears in Double-Figures as St. Joseph’s Tops John Jay

BROOKLYN, NY – Coming off of back-to-back losses, St. Joseph's men's basketball team edged John Jay 89-82 Saturday afternoon for their first ever victory against the Bloodhounds. Five Bears scored 10+ points with forward Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) leading the way with 19.

Rogowski's 19 points were a season high. He finished 7-of-12 shooting and 5-of-6 from deep. Freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) picked up his second consecutive double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing 14 boards. Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) also had his shooting touch connecting on 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) and Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) rounded out the Bears offensive attack with 14 and ten points respectively.

The Bloodhounds were led by Jerome Alexander who picked up a game-high 29 points. Jamar Harry chipped in with a double-double racking up 18 points and securing 11 rebounds and Matt Collins picked up 17 points.

St. Joseph's jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with two Forehand three-pointers in the first minute and twenty seconds, prompting a quick timeout from Bloodhound coach, Otis Fenn. The Bears continued to put the pressure on the Bloodhounds, building a seven point lead, 19-12, after a Louison lay-in with 13:29 left in the half.

John Jay dug into St. Joseph's lead and tied the game at 23-all scoring 11 points in two minutes and 25 seconds. A few possessions later, the Bloodhounds grabbed their first lead of the game on a three-point play by Alexander. John Jay continued on a 19-7 run, bringing their lead to seven, 31-24.

The Bloodhounds held onto the lead until seven seconds left in the half when Forehand drilled his fourth triple of the game, sending the two teams to the locker rooms with the score knotted at 48-apiece. The Bears shot 56% from the floor in the first half and 61% from three-point land.

John Jay kicked off the second half scoring the first eight points of the frame, giving them their biggest lead of the game 56-48 and causing Bears coach Joseph Cocozello to call a timeout. Following the timeout, two Rogowski three-pointers sparked the Bears to score the next ten points to regain the lead 58-56 at the 12:36 mark of the second half.

The two squads exchanged buckets with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage. With 3:52 remaining, Maddox gave the Bears the lead for the final time with a running jumper off of a Louison rebound. After two Gist free throws put the Bears up three, Maddox split two defenders on his way to the hoop and put the Bears up five 81-76 with a layup.

On the Bloodhounds next possession, Louison swatted a layup attempt from Matt Collins to bring the crowd to their feet and give the Bears the ball back. After a Louison layup put St. Joseph's up seven, John Jay scored five points in a minute to cut the lead to two with 1:06 remaining. Forced to foul, John Jay sent St. Joseph's to the free throw line six times and the Bears put the game away connecting on all six for an 89-82 win.

The Bears hit the road for their next three games, beginning November 29th at York College. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 pm.