Men's Basketball Secures Spot in HVIAC Championship Game With Win Over Albany Pharmacy

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Paced by four players in double figures, the No. 1 St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team defeated the No. 4 Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 73-56, in the semifinals of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the CNR Wellness Center.

St. Joseph's (17-9, 7-0 HVIAC) advances to their tenth straight championship game and have won three in a row, while Albany Pharmacy (9-11, 4-3 HVIAC) has now lost to the Bears in the semifinals in back-to-back years.

Leading the St. Joseph's attack was the double-double combination of sophomore Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) and junior David Louison (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) who recorded their 17th and 15th double-doubles, respectively. Megafu led the way with a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Louison contributed 16 points and had a game-high-tying 13 caroms. The forward also finished with four assists, two steals and three blocks.

Junior Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) added 13 points and four assists and sophomore Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Albany Pharmacy was led by Casey Redfern who notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Panthers scored the first points of the game to take a 2-0 lead with 18:32 left in the first half, but that would be their only lead of the game as the Bears rattled off seven straight points to take a 7-2 lead at the 17:40 mark and would not trail again.

St. Joseph's built their lead to as many as 10 in the first half before Albany Pharmacy cut it to seven, 34-27 heading into halftime.  The Bears came out of the lockers on fire to start the half, scoring the first seven points of the half to take a 41-27 lead with 17:45 remaining.

The Panthers cut the St. Joseph's lead to 56-48 with 9:19 left but the Bears proved too much for Albany Pharmacy to handle as St. Joseph's built the lead back to double figures where it stood for the remainder of the contest.

TURNING POINT

The Panthers tied the score at 10-10 with 13:52 left to play in the first half on a Redfern three-pointer, but the Bears responded with the next four points to break the tie and coasted the rest of the way.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other Contributor: David Ortiz (3 pts, 5 ast)
• St. Joseph's finished the day making 38.8 percent (26-of-67) of their attempts, while Albany Pharmacy shot 35.0 percent (21-of-60) from the floor.
• St. Joseph's made a living at the line going 17-of-26 (65.4 percent) compared to 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) by the Panthers.
• Albany Pharmacy finished with a 45-43 edge on the glass, but the Bears dominated the paint holding a 36-18 margin in points in the paint.
• St. Joseph's forced 19 Panther turnovers to earn a 16-8 triumph in points off turnovers.
• The Bears distributed the ball well, finishing with 20 assists on 26 made field goals.

THE BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's improves to 12-3 against Albany Pharmacy in meetings since 2002 and have won five in a row in the series.
• The Bears surpass their win total from a year ago and improve to 4-1 in neutral site games.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS – Vaughn College

St. Joseph's faces Vaughn College in the HVIAC Tournament championship game tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the College of New Rochelle Wellness Center.