Louison's 20-and-20 Not Enough As Bears Fall to Brooklyn College

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Despite a pair of 20-point efforts highlighted by a 20-point, 20-rebound game from sophomore David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team suffered an 85-76 setback to borough rivals Brooklyn College on Wednesday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The Bulldogs (5-11) countered with a pair of 20-point scorers and used an 11-0 second-half run to pull away from the Bears (10-9) for the victory.

Louison's 20-20 effort was the second of his career—the first also coming against Brooklyn College last year—setting a season-high in scoring and matching a career-high in rebounds, 14 on the offensive glass. In addition to recording his 12th double-double, the sophomore also crossed the 500-rebound plateau for his career in only 46 games, the fastest in Bears history to do so.

Freshman Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) netted a career-high 20 points, sharing team-high honors with Louison, connecting on 6-of-13 including three trifectas. Fellow freshman Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) also recorded his 12th double-double of the season with 16 points on another efficient 8-for-10 shooting night with 11 rebounds.

Brooklyn College was led by a career-high 25 points from freshman Egzon Gjonbalaj who connected on 10-of-12 and pulled down eight rebounds. Senior Kavon Baker added 23 points and senior Steven Grant contributed 12 points and eight caroms.

Gjonbalaj, Baker and Grant connected on their first 3-of-4 shots to take a 6-0 lead off the opening tip and they maintained that margin until the Bears used a 10-0 run to take a 19-15 lead just past the midway point of the first half.

The visitors would respond with a 12-0 run of their own to build an eight-point advantage, 27-19. But the Bears would draw even just before the break on buckets from Louison, O'Neill and Ian Duff (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) and a three-pointer at the buzzer from O'Neill sent the Bears into the lockers up 38-36.

The Bulldogs opened the second-stanza on another 6-0 run to take back the lead, but the Bears fought back forcing three more ties—the second coming on a fast-break dunk from Megafu—but never was able to seize the lead. With the game tied at 45-all, an 11-0 run in just under two minutes—Gjonbalaj accounting for seven points—would prove to be the difference. The quick burst would have an eerie resemblance to the run that downed the Lady Bears against Brooklyn in last night's road matchup.

Brooklyn extended to as many as 15, but the Bears came within striking distance late, scoring eight unanswered to cut the deficit to 76-71 with 1:46 to play.

Although the Bears won the battle of the boards, 54-39, the Bulldogs secured a key offensive rebound with under a minute to play after the Bears defense forced a tough jumper with the shot clock winding down. After the Bulldogs went 1-for-2 from the stripe fouled in the bonus, a costly turnover in the backcourt all but ended the Bears' comeback bid.

St. Joseph's returns to action on Saturday, January 26th, beginning a stretch of four-straight Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference games against rivals Berkeley College—the Bears and Knights combining to win the last seven league titles. St. Joseph's will also celebrate Alumni, Family & Friends Day, the Alumni Game tipping off at 2 pm, followed by the Lady Bears and Knights at 5 pm and the Bears and Knights at 7:30 pm.

Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com and live updates available on Twitter via @SJCBears.