Bears Strike Down Lightning, Finish First Half of Schedule 8-3

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Powered by freshman forward Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) who recorded his seventh double-double of the season with game highs of 21 points and 18 rebounds, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team defeated Lehman College, 65-56, on Monday evening at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

The Bears (8-3) have won three straight games and six of their last seven. St. Joseph's has a four-week break from game action until resuming play in the new year. Lehman (4-3) drops their first non-conference game of their 2012-13 campaign.

Also for the Bears, freshman Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) poured in a career-high 19 points connecting on 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed six boards and swiped a game-high six thefts coming off the bench.  Freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) contributed 10 points and six rebounds and junior Emitt Hightower (Brooklyn, NY/Immaculata (NJ)) chipped in eight points and five caroms.

Lehman was led by Stanley Stephens who collected a double-double scoring 17 points while bringing down 16 rebounds, both team highs. Lehman also received contributions from Erasmo Soto who dropped in 11 points and had nine rebounds.

The game was scoreless for nearly three minutes with both teams combining to miss the first 12 shots to start the game before Stephens made a layup at the 17:02 mark to get the Lightning on the board first. O'Neill's first three-pointer at the 14:05 mark gave the Bears their first lead of the game.

Both teams traded the lead until St. Joseph's went on a 16-1 run powered by six points from O'Neill and four from Hightower to build their largest lead of the first half, 26-12 with 6:39 left to play before intermission. But Lehman would chip away at the Bears lead got within two, 30-28, on a Stephens layup with 1:36 left in the half before an O'Neill trey gave the Bears a 33-28 lead heading into the break. O'Neill would finish the half with 14 points to lead the Bears.

St. Joseph's opened up the second stanza with back-to-back Megafu layups giving them a 37-28 lead before Lehman went on a 10-4 run to trim the deficit to three, 41-38 with 14:50 left to play, but that would be the closest they would get. The Bears increased their lead to 10, 51-41, at the 10:56 mark on an O'Neill three-pointer.  The Lightning struck back going on a mini 5-0 run to get within five, 51-46, with 8:41 left to play.

The Bears scored eight unanswered to increase their lead to 59-46 with 3:52 left in regulation and held a 14-point advantage entering the final minute to seal the win for the Bears.   

Despite only shooting 39 percent from the field (28-of-72) the Bears were able to hold the lead by playing suffocating defense against the Lightning holding them to a 29 percent clip (18-of-62) and forced 23 turnovers which they converted into 26 points. St. Joseph's also controlled the inside game outscoring the Lightning in the paint, 46-18.

St. Joseph's returns to the hardwood on Monday, January 7th when they travel to Madison, NJ to take on Drew University with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.