Bears Stymied by Staten Island in Road Loss

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Sophomore David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) and freshman Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) led the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team with 18 points each, but the Bears found themselves on the short end of an 80-68 decision against the College of Staten Island on Thursday evening at the CSI Sports & Recreation Center.

St. Joseph's (8-5) drops their second consecutive game of the new year while the Dolphins (9-2) have won nine of their last ten.

Louison fell one rebound shy of his ninth double-double of the season shot 8-of-12 from the field and swiped five steals. O'Neill made his first career start and fell one shy of his career-high in points, draining five three-pointers in the process.

Also for the Bears, freshman Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) contributed nine points and seven caroms and sophomore Kevin Alesi (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) chipped in a season-high nine points off the bench.

The Dolphins were led by Jon Chadwick-Myers who poured in a game- and season-high 31 points connecting on 10-of-17 from the field, including five three pointers. Javon Cox recorded a double-double scoring 17 points and corralling 13 rebounds. Dylan Bulger netted eight points and collected a game-high 14 caroms.

A Louison jump shot on the first possession gave the Bears their only lead before Staten Island went on a 16-4 spurt to open up a 10-point advantage, 16-6, five minutes into the game. The Bears evened the score at 23-all at the 7:23 mark, but the Dolphins went on a 14-3 run to build back a double-digit lead with just over a minute before intermission and headed into the locker rooms leading 39-31.

St. Joseph's came out of the lockers strong scoring six unanswered on back-to-back layups by Louison and Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep). The Dolphins tried to pull away again but the Bears managed to tie the game at 52-all just past the midway point of the period. The game went back-and-forth with the Dolphins building a five-point lead at the 7:09 mark on a Cox dunk, but on the ensuing possession a Megafu throw-down cut the deficit back to three, 62-59.

Staten Island followed the Megafu dunk with a 9-1 run that increased the lead back to double figures with 2:14 left to play and proved too much for St. Joseph's to overcome as the Dolphins made 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final minute to hold off the Bears.

The Dolphins, ranked No. 19 in Division III in rebounding margin, dominated the boards maintaining a 52-32 edge on the glass holding a decisive advantage in second chance points, 24-9. Staten Island also held the No. 4 and No. 7 rebounders in the nation, Louison and Megafu, to less than 10 rebounds. The Bears an improved 71 percent from the foul line (12-of-17), but it was not enough as the Dolphins shot 44 percent from the field (27-of-62) while St. Joseph's made 38 percent of their field goal attempts (24-of-63).

St. Joseph's will look to rebound from their first losing streak of the season on Saturday, January 12th when they open Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference (HVMAC) play with a matchup against the Culinary Institute of America opening a double-header with the women. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 p.m. with the Lady Bears hosting Apprentice School in a USCAA showdown at 7:30 p.m.