Bears Overwhelm Albany Pharmacy, Win Second-Straight HVMAC Tilt

ALBANY, N.Y. – Five Bears scored in double figures as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball sailed to a 81-61 victory over the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Panthers in Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference (HVMAC) action on Saturday afternoon at the Albert M. White Gymnasium.

The Bears (12-10, 3-1 HVMAC) win their second straight HVMAC tilt and hand the Panthers (12-4, 4-1) their first conference setback.

Senior Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) drained 5-of-7 from three-point land en route to a game-high-tying 17 points. Sophomore David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) scored 16 points, secured six rebounds and swiped three steals. Freshman Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) added 15 points.

Also for St. Joseph's, freshman Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) registered his 13th double-double of the season with 14 points a game-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) chipped in 10 points with a game-high four thefts coming off the bench.

Albany Pharmacy was paced by four-time HVMAC Player of the Week Casey Redfern who netted 17 points, sharing game high honors with Rogowski. Ryan McVeigh contributed 12 points and Emmanuel Okafor added 10 points in a reserve role.

The Bears overwhelmed the Panthers from the outset, utilizing a 16-0 run over three minutes to build a 22-4 lead and St. Joseph's remained firmly in control until the final buzzer. The Bears closed the half on back-to-back triples from O'Neill and Rogowski to finish the half shooting 7-of-12 from distance and carried a 48-23 lead into the lockers.

The Panthers found the range in the second stanza improving to 54 percent shooting (12-of-22) but the Bears maintained their distance, the lead never dropping below 20 points and Coach Cocozello able to distribute some minutes to his reserves.

St. Joseph's finished shooting 40 percent for the contest (30-of-75) and Albany Pharmacy connected at a higher 46 percent rate (20-of-44) but the Bears defense swiped 16 steals and forced 24 turnovers, which led to 28 points. The Bears protected the ball well committing a season-second-best seven miscues. The rebounding battle remained relatively even in favor of the Bears, 41-39, but St. Joseph's converted 21 caroms on the offensive end into a 20-10 edge in second-chance scoring.

The Bears conclude a four-game HVMAC stretch with a road tilt against Vaughn College on Wednesday, February 6th. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Hostos Community College.