Men's Basketball Cruises To 3-1 in Skyline Play With Convincing Win Over Sarah Lawrence

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team drained a team-record-tying 17 three-pointers led by Justin Manon's (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) 15 points off the bench en route to a convincing 93-64 Skyline Conference victory over former HVIAC rivals Sarah Lawrence College on Saturday afternoon.

The Basics

• Final Score: St Joseph's 93, Sarah Lawrence 64
• Records:  St. Joseph's (4-2, 3-1 Skyline), Sarah Lawrence (2-5, 0-4 Skyline)
• Location: Bronxville, N.Y.
• Arena: Campbell Sports Center
• Starters:
  • SJC: Murray (G), O'Neill (G), Willis (G), Archer (F), Megafu (F)
  • SLC: Segal (G), Rocheleau (G), Gerak (G), Radosavljevic (F), Gilleran (F)

Turning Point

• Alec Willis drained back-to-back trifectas open the game and SJC scored the first 12 points of the contest and never trailed by less than nine the rest of the way.

How it Happened

• The Bears stormed out of the gate in the first meeting against their former HVIAC rivals and never looked back. After building a 12-point advantage to open the game, the Bears lead dipped to nine momentarily before taking a 40-26 lead at the halftime intermission.
• SJC then shot a blistering 57 percent (17-29) in the second half, led by Manon's 15 points that all came in a span of four minutes and pushed the Bears lead to 31 with 11:02 to play.

For the Bears

• Justin Manon scored his season-high 15 points in only 12 minutes of action on 3-for-3 shooting from behind-arc and 4-of-6 from the stripe.
• Sophomore Alec Willis matched his season-high 12 points draining 4-of-6 from three-point land, adding a pair of steals and assists.
• Senior Michael Megafu recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and game-highs of 10 rebounds and three rejections, also dishing out a team-high four assists with a trio of steals.
• Senior Matt O'Neill fell one rebound shy of his fourth career double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds, also swiping three steals and dishing out two dimes.
• Michael Murray and Joseph Idyahia both added eight points while Rodoloph Messadieu, Nolan Parr and Richard DiPuma chipped in six points each.
• Idyahia and Messadieu scored their first collegiate points in the victory.

For the Gryphons

• Stevan Radosavljevic tallied a game-high-tying 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five caroms.
• Graham Gilleran added 10 points with four rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Inside the Box Score

• The Bears shot 53 percent (31-59) from the field and 57 percent (17-30) from behind-the-arc, both season highs.
• SJC also dished out a season-best 24 assists on 31 made field goals.
• Sarah Lawrence committed just 15 turnovers, the fewest by a Bears Skyline opponent this season, but SJC made the most of those miscues holding a 22-2 edge in points off turnovers
• The Gryphons held a slight 39-37 rebounding advantage

The Bear Facts

• SJC is undefeated in the series under coach Joseph Cocozello with a perfect 14-0 record.
• The 17 made treys matches a record set three times previously and last against King's College this past February.
• The 93 points is one shy of their season high scored at Roanoke.
• With the victory, SJC moves into third place in the Skyline, behind undefeated Mount Saint Vincent (4-0) and Sage (3-0).

Next up for St. Joseph's

The Bears will continue Skyline Conference on Tuesday, December 8 facing sibling rivals SJC Long Island in Patchogue, N.Y. in the first of a home-and-home series. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. and headlines a doubleheader with the women. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com