Men's Basketball Falls to Apprentice Second Half Rally

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – David Louison (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, N.Y/Nazareth Regional) each recorded double-doubles but the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team couldn't hold off a surging Apprentice squad falling 62-56 on Sunday afternoon.

Louison paced the Bears (2-4) with a game-high 18 points paired with 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and Megafu scored 12 points and secured 10 caroms for his third double-double of the season. Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) chipped in 16 points off four trifectas.

Apprentice (6-2) was led by Jay Melendez who with 14 points and Jamal Curry who grabbed 21 rebounds and fell one point shy of a double-double.

The game featured a low scoring first half with both teams combining for just 25 percent shooting, but the Bears overcame a 10-point deficit and a nine-minute scoring drought to open the game and headed into the lockers with a 22-18 advantage.

St. Joseph's expanded their lead to nine with 13:42 to play off eight points in less than two minutes from O'Neill, but the hosts reeled the Bears back in with a 12-3 run and took the lead for good with 4:31 remaining.

TURNING POINT

The Bears struggled to get shots to fall down the stretch, going without a field goal for the final 4:02 and just three field goals over the final nine minutes.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other contributor:  Vernon Maddox (8 pts, 4 ast, 3 reb, 2 stl)
• Louison played the entire 40 minutes and Megafu played just a few seconds shy of the full 40, subbed out with foul trouble late in the contest.
• After shooting just 25 percent (8-32) the Bears improved to 39.3 percent (11-28) in the second half.  Apprentice also improved to 41.9 percent (13-31) and held a 34.4-31.7 percent edge for the game.
• The Builders won the battle of the boards, 58-33, and parlayed 24 rebounds on the offensive end into 27 second chance points.
• Apprentice had seven Builders score at least five points with the Builder bench outscoring the Bears 21-4.

THE BEAR FACTS

Apprentice levels the all-time series at 1-1, the Bears taking the first meeting last season at Brooklyn Tech. Both squads were USCAA National Championship participants last season.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS

St. Joseph's returns to action for their home opener at Brooklyn Technical High School hosting The King's College (N.Y.) on Tuesday, December 3. The Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader begins at 7 p.m. with the women followed by the men at 9 p.m.