Bears Extend Streak to Three With Triumph Over Pratt

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team secured a spot in the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference tournament with an 85-54 conference win on the road over Pratt Institute on Tuesday night.

St. Joseph's (11-12, 4-2 HVMAC) extends their win streak to three games and moves within one game of reaching the .500 mark for the third time this season.  The Bears finish in third place in the conference and will face  Vaughn College in the semifinals of the HVMAC tournament on Saturday, February 18 at Albany Pharmacy looking to avenge the loss at home a few weeks ago.

The Bears were led by senior Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) who tallied 16 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting day.  Freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) added 11 points of 5-of-6 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.  Ismael Dabo (Long Island City, NY/St. John's Prep), Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) and Kevin Alesi (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) each added nine points each as 12 different Bears contributed at least two points to the box score.

Senior Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) handed out a season-best six assists, one shy of his career-high. Sophomore John Moore (Glendale, NY/Archbishop Molloy) grabbed a career and game-high 13 rebounds.  The Bears shot a season-best 53 percent (37-of-70) in the contest.

Pratt (5-8, 0-3) was led by senior Nick Fusaro, reigning HVMAC Player of the Week, who netted a game-high 18 points, shooting 4-of-6 behind the arc and grabbing seven rebounds.  J.T. Kim added 11 points in a reserve role and Keith Lindberg had seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Bears raced out to an 17-6 lead over the first five minutes of play, with Gist going off for 10 points in that stretch and highlighted by a Louison steal and breakaway dunk, The Bears kept extending their advantage to 30-8 by the mid-way point of the half and led 47-20 at the break.

Although Pratt improved their second half shooting to 43 percent (13-of-30) and connected on four three pointers, the Bears kept pace and maintained a 30 point edge for most of the second stanza.

St. Joseph's held a large advantage on the glass, 57-30, and dominated inside the paint scoring, 50-12.  Both teams did well to protect the ball, combining for a season-low 21 turnovers.

St. Joseph's hits the road for one final game before concluding the regular season at home for senior night.  The Bears travel to Pennsylvania to face Lancaster Bible College on Friday, February 10th at 7 p.m.