Strong Second Half Sends Men's Basketball Into New Year on Two-Game Streak After Road Win Over CCNY

NEW YORK — Senior Michael Megafu (Jamaica, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) recorded his seventh double-double of the season with a game-high 19 points and sophomore Alec Willis (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) drained four threes over a critical second-half run that gave the Bears the lead for good as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team rallied for a 65-60 non-conference road triumph over City College of New York on Tuesday afternoon. 

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 65, CCNY 60
• Records:  St. Joseph's (6-4, 4-3 Skyline), CCNY (5-4, 2-2 CUNYAC)
• Date: December 29, 2015
• Location: New York, N.Y.
• Arena: Nat Holman Gymnasium
• Starters:
  • St. Joseph's: Murray (G), O'Neill (G), Manon (G), Archer (F), Megafu (F)
  • CCNY: Solano (G), Hamer (G), Chadha (F), Dionisio (F), Rhodes (F)

Turning Point

• Alec Willis scored all of his 12 second-half points in four minutes, going 4-for-4 from three-point land, sparking a run that reversed a six-point deficit into a six-point lead and the Bears never trailed again.

How it Happened

• The opening half was tightly contested with neither team leading by more than six points and both squads within four for the majority of the half, with CCNY leading the final 10 minutes.
• Despite a poor first-half shooting performance below 30 percent after a two-week layoff, the Bears entered the lockers trailing by just five, 29-24.
• The hosts pushed their lead to eight on two occasions early in the second stanza and led by six at the 11:24 mark before Willis cut the deficit in half with a trifecta, promptly followed by an SJC timeout.
• Right out of the break, Willis stole the ball and drained another trifecta that knotted the game at 43-all. On the ensuing possession, Christian Giles then swiped another steal that set up a Matt O'Neill layup that gave the Bears the lead for good and their first lead in nearly 20 minutes of game action.
• Giles later drained a three to continue a furious 7-of-9 shooting effort over 4:16 bookended by two more Willis trifectas—draining 4-for-4 over the spurt—that gave SJC 56-50 lead just past the seven-minute mark.
• The Bears built a seven-point lead on a pair of Megafu free throws with four minutes left, but the hosts would whittle the lead to one, 61-60, with 16 seconds remaining. But the senior would erase any hopes of a Beaver comeback with a dunk—ending a four-minute scoring drought for the Bears—and secured a key defensive rebound on the next CCNY possession to clear his seventh double-double and calmly sank both free throws in the bonus to seal the victory.

For the Bears

• Michael Megafu played all but one minute and shot 7-of-13 from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe for a game-high 19 points. The senior paired with 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double, one behind the nationwide lead.
• Matt O'Neill netted 15 points along with six rebounds.
• Alec Willis scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half, draining 4-of-6 from behind-the-arc, while swiping a career- and game-high five steals.

For the Beavers

• Darius Rhodes led the hosts with a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double.
• Robert Dionisio played all 40 minutes and tallied 10 points with seven caroms.

Inside the Box Score

• The Bears had a slow start after a two-week break shooting just 28 percent (9-32) in the opening half and 0-for-8 from three-point land, but shot 50 percent (15-30) in the second stanza and 6-of-10 from distance to finish 38.7 percent (24-62) for the contest.
• CCNY held a slight shooting edge at 39.1 percent (24-61) but struggled from behind-the-arc, connecting on just 23 percent (3-13) of their attempts and 0-for-5 in the second stanza.
• The Bears won the turnover battle again, swiping a season-high tying 12 steals and forcing 17 Beaver miscues, which they parlayed into a 15-7 edge in points off turnovers.
• There were seven ties and five lead changes in the contest.

The Bear Facts

• St. Joseph's improves to 6-3 in the all-time series. The Bears have won all six meetings since 2010 after the series was revived after a five-year hiatus.
• The Bears swiped 12 steals for the fifth time this season. Entering the game, the team led the Skyline and was ranked 33rd in the nation in steals per game (9.8).

Next up for St. Joseph's

St. Joseph's will carry a two-game win streak into the new year and will resume Skyline Conference play against Purchase College on Monday, January 4th. The Bears will follow the women in a road doubleheader in Purchase tipping off at 8 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com