Bears Second-Half Rally Falls Short to Lindenwood-Belleville in USCAA Consolation

UNIONTOWN, Pa. – Despite five Bears finishing in double figures and shrinking a 22-point deficit to three with one minute to play, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team was unable to overtake Lindenwood University Belleville, falling 81-74 in their United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) consolation game on Thursday morning at Maltho Gymnasium.

Despite falling short in their first nationals appearance since 2007, the Bears finish with a 16-13 mark, their most victories since their 2006-07 campaign.

St. Joseph's was led by senior Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) who concluded his career with 16 points including four trifectas and scored 10 points over the second-half run to bring the game to three points. First-Team All-American David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds and All-American honorable mention Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional) had 15 points and eight rebounds.

Junior David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) added 11 points and dished out five dimes and freshman Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) chipped in 10 points and swiped five thefts.

Lindenwood was paced by First-Team All-American Todd Starks who netted a game-high 32 points and Second-Team All-American Matt Sturdivant registered a 21-point, 14-rebound double-double.

After trading baskets early, the Bears held a 5-4 lead before being held scoreless for seven minutes and allowing the Lynx to score 11 unanswered and build a double digit advantage. St. Joseph's struggled to find the range in the opening period shooting less than 20 percent early on and surrendered a large advantage on the glass, but managed to keep the deficit under 10.

After the Lynx opened a 12-point lead, the largest of the half, the Bears closed the half scoring the final five points to trail only 34-27 at the break and finished shooting 28 percent (10-of-36) in the frame and just 3-of-16 from three-point land.

In the second stanza, an early 7-0 Bears run in the first two minutes brought about a 36-34 game, but Lindenwood responded with eight straight points to push the deficit to double digits and ballooned their lead to 22, 67-45, with 7:17 to play.

The Bears then staged a late rally powered by six trifectas – two each from Rogowski, Ortiz, and Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) – assembling a 28-9 run over six minutes that shrank the deficit to three, 76-73, with just one minute remaining.

But St. Joseph's couldn't get any closer, Sparks responding with a layup and a flurry of Bears trifecta attempts unable to drop and the Lynx pulled away from the stripe after being fouled in the bonus.

For the contest, the Lynx shot 46 percent (31-of-68) while the Bears finished with a 32 percent connect rate (24-of-75) and 31 percent from distance (10-for-32). St. Joseph's surrendered a 42-24 disadvantage in paint scoring but swiped 13 steals and forced 20 turnovers to take a 20-13 edge in points off turnovers.