Pair of Double-Doubles Not Enough as Brooklyn Pulls Away from Men's Basketball Late

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Senior Jamir Archer (Staten Island, N.Y./CSI/McCown) netted 25 points and brought down a career-best 15 rebounds and Michael Megafu (Jamaica, N.Y./Nazareth) secured his 12th double-double of the season, but former top 25 Brooklyn College relied on consistent free-throw shooting down the stretch to hold off the the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team, 91-84, in a battle of borough rivals on Tuesday night at The Hill Center.

The Basics

• Final Score: Brooklyn 91, St. Joseph's 84
• Records: Brooklyn (18-5, 10-4 CUNYAC), St. Joseph's (12-11, 9-9 Skyline)
• Date: February 9, 2016
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Arena: The Hill Center
• Starters:
  • St. Joseph's: Parr (G), O'Neill (G), Willis (G), Archer (F), Megafu (F)
  • Brooklyn: Gist (G), Grasso (G), Gjonbalaj (F), Balsam (F), Williams (F)

Turning Point

• Alec Willis buried a triple with 4:29 remaining to cut a six-point deficit in half. But four unanswered put the Bulldogs up 84-77, their largest lead thus far, with just 3:40 left to play. Brooklyn converted nine free-throws in the final 3:40 to hold off the Bears.

How it Happened

• A hotly contested first half saw 16 lead changes with neither side separating by more than six points.
• Late in the half, the Bulldogs used a 7-0 spurt to move up 32-26 with 3:01 remaining.
• The Bears controlled the remaining minutes, scoring 11 of the final 14 points, including a buzzer beating tip-in off the fingers of Jamir Archer, to enter the break leading 37-35.
• The sides exchanged nine more lead changes in the second stanza. At the 15:23 mark, Michael Megafu's layup moved St. Joseph's up 49-44, their largest separation of the game.
• The visitors would erase the Bears' lead before Archer jump started a 5-0 spurt with a highlight reel putback slam and St. Joseph's built four-point leads on three occasions.
• Lorenzo Williams' layup capped a 5-0 run for the Bulldogs to give them a slight 64-63 edge with 8:16 remaining, their first lead in more than five minutes.
• With 4:39 left to play, Egzon Gjonbalaj drained a triple to make it 80-74 as the Bulldogs attempted to pull away in the waning minutes. Just ten seconds later, Alec Willis answered from long range to keep the Bears within distance.
• But St. Joseph's would be unable to draw closer as the Bulldogs sunk nine free throws in the final 3:40 to seal the victory.

For the Bears

• Fresh off a 26-point performance on Saturday, Jamir Archer dropped 25 more tonight on 12-of-15 shooting. The senior also corralled a career-high 15 rebounds to record his fourth double-double of the season.
• Senior Michael Megafu notched his 12th double-double of the campaign with a 22-point, 11-rebound effort.
• Sophomore Alec Willis added 12 points, all from a 4-of-8 performance from downtown.
• Senior Matt O'Neill flirted with a triple-double, contributing nine points, nine rebounds and a game-high eight assists. He also swiped a pair of steals to move within one of tying the all-time program record.

For the Bulldogs

• Lorenzo Williams led all scorers with 29 points on a near-perfect 11-of-12 free-throw shooting performance.
• Egzon Gjonbalaj scored 27 and grabbed 10 boards for the double-double. The forward also distributed seven assists.
• Jamel Gist netted 14 points on three triples, adding three dimes and three steals.

Inside the Box Score

• St. Joseph's held the lead (20:23) for more than half the contest that featured 25 lead changes.   
• The Bears (47.1%) outshot Brooklyn (41.8%), but the Bulldogs shot 53.3 percent (16-30) and drained six three-pointers in the second half.
• The Bulldogs also compiled a significant advantage from the free-throw line, sinking 24-of-27 (88.9%), including 18 in the second half, to more than double St. Joseph's output (10-18).
• Led by Archer, St. Joseph's outrebounded the visitors 47-34 and converted 17 on the offensive end into a 27-12 edge in second-chance scoring.
• The Skyline leaders in turnover margin, the Bears committed twice as many turnovers (18) as the Bulldogs, their matching a season-worst margin.

The Bear Facts

• St. Joseph's falls to 12-11 on the season in their final non-conference game of the season. Just two regular season games remain, both Skyline Conference meetings as the Bears battle for the final playoff spot.
• Borough rival Brooklyn improves to 12-4 in the all-time history against St. Joseph's.

Next up for St. Joseph's

The Bears will have several days off before resuming their push for a spot in the Skyline Conference Tournament. Next up, the Bears travel to meet Farmingdale State on Saturday, February 13 for a 2 p.m. start looking to avenge an overtime loss at home in December. Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com.