Men's Basketball Gameday: Bears vs. John Jay

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – St. Joseph's (15-9) concludes their regular season with Senior Night against John Jay College (8-13) on Tuesday, February 11th at 7:30 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION

John Jay College of Criminal Justice (8-13, 6-7 CUNYAC) vs. St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) (15-9, 7-0 HVIAC)

Tuesday, February 11th • 7:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Technical High School • Brooklyn, N.Y.

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STORYLINES

• St. Joseph's looks to win their seventh game out of their last eight to finish the regular season.
• With a victory over the Bloodhounds the Bears will improve to 2-3 in matchups since 2004.
• The Bears try to finish with eight home wins for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
• With a win St. Joseph's would match their win total from a year ago.
• The Bears look for their second straight win on Senior Night.
• John Jay looks to put an end to a three-game losing streak and pick up their first win of the month.
• Sophomore Michael Megafu tries to continue his upward trend among the nation's leaders in double-doubles, coming in ranked No. 3 with 15 on the season.

SERIES HISTORY

John Jay leads 3-1 in meetings since 2004 with the lone Bears victory coming on November 26, 2011.

LAST MEETING

St. Joseph's was deadlocked after 20 minutes with the top team in the CUNY Conference, but the Bloodhounds pulled away from the Bears in the second half to capture a 79-68 victory on January 19, 2013 at the Doghouse. David Ortiz tallied a career-high 16 points to lead St. Joseph's, knocking down 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

THE BEAR FACTS

Last Time Out: St. Joseph's overcame a slow start, led by the 15th double-double of the season by Michael Megafu, to defeat HVIAC foe The Culinary Institute of America, 87-61 on Saturday afternoon at the Student Rec Center. With the win the Bears conclude HVIAC undefeated for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Megafu finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, adding four assists and two steals to his stat line.

St. Joseph's tries to match its win total from a year ago with a win against John Jay. The Bears have played their best basketball down the stretch as they try to secure a spot in the USCAA National Tournament, winning six of their last seven games and come into tonight's action ranked No. 11 in the Division I coaches' poll.

The defensive end of the floor is where St. Joseph's has had most of its success this season, holding opponents to 40.6 percent shooting (No. 48 in Division III) while coming up with 9.5 steals per game (No. 25 in Division III). The Bears also thrive at getting to the line on the season, attempting 559 free throws (No. 35 in Division III).

Five-time AD3I and HVIAC Player of the Week David Louison continues to have a career year for St. Joseph's in the frontcourt averaging a team-high 18.4 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting and is bringing down 9.2 rebounds per game. The junior has 13 double-doubles (No. 10 in Division III) on the year and is pouring in 21.2 points per game since the start of the New Year.

Also a frontcourt presence for the Bears is Michael Megafu who is a double-double threat everytime he takes the floor. The sophomore has 15 double-doubles on the year (No. 3 in Division III) and nets 16.5 points and a team-high 10.5 rebounds per game (No. 24 in Division III). The forward shoots an efficient 55.9 percent from the field and rejects a team-high 1.4 blocks per game.

Vernon Maddox continues to be the primary facilitator for St. Joseph's dishing out a team-high 4.7 assists per game and adds 9.6 points per game. Sophomore Matt O'Neill chips in 10.5 points per game and leads the team with 2.7 steals per game (No. 13 in Division III).

INSIDE THE DOGHOUSE

Last Time Out: John Jay suffered a 78-67 setback to the College of Staten Island on Saturday at the Doghouse. The Bloodhounds received 25 points and seven rebounds from Kris Owens.

John Jay is in the middle of the pack in most categories among CUNYAC teams. The Bloodhounds average 72.1 points per game, but allow their opponents to put up 77.4 per game on 43.6 percent shooting. However, John Jay is among the conference's leaders in steals per game with 11.9 (No. 6 in Division III). The Bloodhounds have trouble on the boards ranking near the bottom of the CUNYAC with a -3.8 rebounding margin.

Kris Owens paces the John Jay offense with 18.0 points per game and also snares a team-high 6.0 boards per game. The junior has scored in double figures in each of the last six games, including back-to-back games with 20+ points.

One-time CUNYAC Player of the Week Korede Griffith contributes 16.7 points and 5.4 caroms per game to rank second on the team in both categories. The junior leads the nation with 3.7 steals per game and shoots 44.1 percent from the floor including 39.2 percent (40-of-102) from beyond the arc.

DID YOU KNOW?

With a win against the Bloodhounds, St. Joseph's would finish with its highest winning percentage at home (.800) since the 2006-07 season when they had a perfect 9-0 home mark.

TEAM COMPARISON

Bears	Nickname	Bloodhounds
15-9 (7-0)	Record	8-13 (6-7)
HVIAC	Conference	CUNYAC
Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Team Info	Roster | Schedule | Statistics
David Louison (18.4)	Top Pts.	Kris Owens (18.0)
Michael Megafu (10.5)	Top Reb.	Kris Owens (6.0)
Vernon Maddox (4.7)	Top Ast.	Darell Robinson (3.8)
74.6 (+7.8)	Scoring	72.1 (-5.3)
42.5%	FG %	38.1%
61.0%	FT %	62.3%
24.8%	3FG %	32.5%
40.8 (-1.8)	Rebounds	39.9 (-3.8)
15.0	Assists	12.1
13.7 (+5.7)	Turnovers	16.3 (+3.4)
9.5	Steals	11.9
4.0	Blocks	3.7