Bears Squander 13-Point Halftime Lead in Loss to Valley Forge

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite four Bears scoring in double figures and a 13 point halftime lead, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team dropped a 68-63 decision to Valley Forge Christian College in the opening round of the Gallaudet University Holiday Tournament on Friday evening at the Field House.

The Bears level their record at 2-2 and will face host Gallaudet University in the consolation game tomorrow at 2 p.m. The Patriots improve to 3-1 and will face Salisbury University for the championship tomorrow at 6 p.m.

St. Joseph's was led by David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) who recorded a near double-double with a team-high 12 points and game-high nine rebounds.  The Bears had a balanced offense with Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep). Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) and Emitt Hightower (Brooklyn, NY/Immaculata (NJ) contributing 10 points each.

Valley Forge Christian also produced a balanced offense with four starters finishing in double figures. Donnell Davis and Lance Harris each netted a game-high 15 points, Harris pulling down six rebounds and Davis securing five caroms. Kevin Mack added 13 points and Jonathan Dukes chipped in 11 points.

A Kevin Alesi (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) trifecta capped a 9-1 run over a six-minute span to build a 10-point advantage, 21-11, with 6:35 remaining in the first half.  A Mack steal and layup clipped the Bears lead to six with just over a minute to play, but a three-point play from Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) sparked a 7-0 run to close the half sending the Bears into the lockers up 35-22.

An Ian Duff (Jamaica, NY/Chris the King) jumper to open the second stanza gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 15, but Valley Forge would respond with a 16-2 run to cut the deficit to one, 39-38.

A jumper from Maddox and a pair of jumpers from Louison gave the Bears a 6-0 run and a seven point lead but the Patriots rolled off seven straight to knot the game at 47-47 just before the midway point in the half and both squads would remain intertwined in a battle the rest of the way.

A Davis layup at the 4:58 mark gave the Patriots their first lead since the early moments, 55-54, and both teams exchanged the lead several times until a Louison jumper brought the game's fifth tie at 63-all with just over a minute to play.

But the Bears would be unable to get any shots off in the final minute, committing two costly turnovers and the Patriots connecting on a triple and a fastbreak layup to steal the victory.

After shooting a paltry 23 percent (7-31) in the opening half, the Patriots connected at a 64 percent (18-28) clip in the second half to complete the comeback.  St. Joseph's improved their connect rate to 52 percent (11-21), but were plagued by 31 percent (5-16) shooting from the charity stripe in the frame.  Valley Forge won the battle on the boards 42-36 and dominated paint scoring, 40-30.

Live stats and video for tomorrow's consolation will be available at http://www.SJCBears.com