Late Spurt Propels Men’s Basketball Past Valley Forge 82-78

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Powered by timely shooting and David Louison's (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) career-high 35 points, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team controlled the final minutes to clip The University of Valley Forge 82-78 on Alumni Night, winning their second in a row and improving to 14-7.

Louison shot a remarkable 15-of-20 en route to his career-night, adding five boards, two steals and a pair of rejections. Michael Megafu (Jamaica, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) contributed his eleventh double-double of the season, filling up the boxscore with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three dishes, a pair of steals and two blocks.

Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) dished out 11 helpers, tying his career-high and falling one assist short of the school record. The junior is in a sharing mood lately, tallying 21 assists in his last two games. O'Neill also drained three from long distance, finishing with 19 points to secure his third career double-double.

Greg Beehler (Breezy Point, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) continued his effective shooting, going 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from deep for 10 points.

Valley Forge (9-8) was paced by senior Kevin Mack, who dropped a team-high 21 on 10-of-18 from the floor.

The Patriots controlled the early minutes, opening up a 20-13 lead at the 12:57 mark of the first following Mack's jumper.

Culminated by Louison's jumper, the Bears answered with a 7-0 run in a span of just 2:06 to draw even at 20. But the Patriots responded right back with their own 7-0 spurt in a span of just 1:43 to snatch back their advantage.

Valley Forge claimed their largest lead of the night (36-26) with 3:29 remaining in the first, but St. Joseph's closed out the half with a 12-5 run, capped by Megafu's powerful breakaway slam with 36 seconds left, to enter the lockers down just one possession (41-38).

The sides traded baskets and momentum for the majority of the second. Mack gave UVF some breathing room with 6:05 remaining, sinking another jumper to put his team up 69-63.

But the Bears continued to stalk and drew back even (73-73) following Louison's free-throw with 2:44 on the clock. Then Louison's layup with just 1:30 left gave St. Joseph's their first lead (77-75) since the 10:21 mark.

First-year player Brandon Rembert had an immediate answer, sinking a three-pointer 34 seconds later to move the Patriots back up, 78-77.

O'Neill then responded with what proved to be the game-winning basket, driving hard to the hoop for a layup that dramatically rolled around the rim before finally finding net.

Trailing 80-78 in the waning seconds, Mack put up a jumper that would've sent the game to overtime, but the shot rimmed out and the Bears protected their unblemished (7-0) record at the Hill Center in thrilling fashion on Alumni Night.

St. Joseph's was outrebounded (32-28) for just the sixth time all season, but the Bears were keyed by a stellar shooting night, finishing 57.1 percent (32-56) from the floor.

The Bears also protected the ball down the stretch, turning it over just five times in the second-half.

St. Joseph's will have a full week of rest before welcoming King's College (N.Y.) to the Hill Center for a conference clash on Saturday, February 7 at 5 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at SJCBears.com.