Bears Defeat Vaughn, Move into 2nd Place in HVMAC

BRONX, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team headlined by three Bears in double-figures defeated Vaughn College, 66-48, in a Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference (HVMAC) game on Wednesday night at Hostos Community College.

The Bears (13-10, 4-1 HVMAC) win their third straight conference tilt and are one game behind Berkeley for first place while the Warriors (9-10, 3-3 HVMAC) see their two-game winning streak snapped.

Senior Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) paced the Bears with his game-high 19 points shooting an efficient 8-of-12 from the field while coming down with seven rebounds. Sophomore David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) nearly contributed his 13th double-double of the season pouring in 13 points along with nine caroms.

Also contributing for the Bears was freshman Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) who chipped in six points and dominated the glass corralling a game-high 17 boards.  Junior David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) contributed 12 points connecting on three treys.  Sophomore Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) set a career-high with seven assists off the bench and secured four rebounds.

The Warriors were led by former HVMAC Player of the Week Jihad Caesar who was the lone scorer in double-figures dropping in 11 points with seven rebounds.  The Bears defense held in check the conference's leading rebounder, Mahdi Macbahi, limiting him to eight points and nine rebounds. Leading scorer Jared Ndiba was held to eight points going 3-of-13 from the field.  Arielle Lariosa chipped in eight points off the bench.

Vaughn played hard for the opening minutes of the first half holding a 14-13 lead with 12:34 remaining in the opening period but St. Joseph's would go on  an 18-7 run capped off by a pair of Ortiz trifectas and free throw that gave them a double-digit advantage, 31-21, at the 5:56 mark.  The teams traded baskets before the Bears went on a 7-3 spurt to give them a 40-26 lead heading into the locker rooms.

The Warriors opened the scoring in the second stanza to cut the lead to 12, 40-28, but that would be the closest they would get as St. Joseph's went on a 14-2 run that gave them a 54-30 lead with 11:32 remaining. The Bears built their lead to a game-high 28 points, 65-37, on a three-pointer by senior Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) allowing Coach Cocozello to empty the bench with all 13 Bears seeing action.

St. Joseph's finished shooting 41 percent for the contest (26-of-63) with the Bears suffocating defense holding Vaughn to a 28 percent rate (18-of-65).  The teams took care of the ball well but St. Joseph's turned 12 Warrior miscues into 12 points while Vaughn was not able to capitalize on any of the Bears turnovers.  St. Joseph's held a 51-41 advantage on the glass and dominated the action in the paint outscoring the Warriors 34-12 despite the presence of the leading shot-blocker in the conference in Macbahi.

The Bears return home for a non-conference senior night matchup against Lancaster Bible on Saturday, February 9th at Brooklyn Technical High School as part of a double-header with the women. The Lady Bears kick off the action at 5:00 p.m. with the Bears following at approximately 7:30 p.m.