Men’s Basketball Rains Down 13 Treys to Score Big Win at Home Over Hunter

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Seven different Bears connected from three-point land at a 54 percent connect rate as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team took a wire-to-wire, 80-60 non-conference victory over Hunter College at The Hill Center on Monday night.

Sophomore Aaron Parra (Brooklyn, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) notched his first career double-double with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to pace St. Joseph's. The victory was the first over the Hawks in four meetings all-time and it snapped a three-skid.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 80, Hunter 60
• Records:  St. Joseph's (2-6), Hunter (5-5)
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Arena: The Hill Center
• SJC Starters: Willis (G), Sirakis (G), Giles (G), Parra (F), Meiner (F)

Turning Point

• St. Joseph's quickly ballooned a 10-point lead at halftime into a 26-point cushion just five-and-a-half minutes into the second stanza as the Bears made seemingly every shot and connected on three treys and a dunk in the spurt.

How it Happened

• The Bears came out firing on all cylinders with Alec Willis draining a triple to open the scoring on the first possession and back-to-back jumpers by Kavan Meiner put SJC up 9-2.
• A triple from Joseph Idyahia followed by a Christian Giles trifecta pushed the Bears lead to double-digits at the 13:15 mark and they led by as many as 15 in the frame. But the visiting Hawks reeled back the Bears and cut their lead to six with three minutes before the intermission before two more long balls from Idyahia and Stephane Etheart helped the Bears take a 37-27 lead into the lockers.
• The Bears overwhelmed the Hawks in the second half scoring the first 16 points of the period and on a 24-5 run over the first nine minutes and put the game out of reach.
• St. Joseph's shot 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) in the second stanza from behind-the-arc with Dimitri Sirakis going 3-for-3, Timmy Driscoll 2-for-2 and Alec Willis and Sebastien Etheart draining both their lone trey attempts.

For the Bears

• Aaron Parra recorded his first collegiate double-double with team highs of 14 points and 11 boards, the latter matching his career best. The sophomore shot 5-of-10 from the field and had a block and steal.
• Stephane Etheart had a productive 13 minutes off the bench netting 13 points, including a breakaway dunk. The freshman also pulled down six boards, dished out three assists and swiped a steal.
• Freshman Dimitri Sirakis added 11 points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point land making his fourth straight start.
• Freshman Kavan Meiner had a near double-double with eight points and nine rebounds and filled his stat line with a trio of assists and steals and a duo of rejections.
• Senior Christian Giles directed the offense dishing out a game-high eight assists, also adding five points and three rebounds.
• Junior Alec Willis contributed eight points, four assists, and three rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• The Bears doubled up Hawks in bench scoring, 34-17 with nine different players adding to the ledger and all 14 Bears dressed saw at least three minutes of action.
• St. Joseph's shot 49 percent (31-63) overall and 54 percent (13-24) from distance, both season highs. The Bears handed out 23 assists, second most this season.
• The Bears also won the rebounding battle, 43-36, and controlled paint scoring, 28-20.

The Bear Facts

• The Bears take their first win in the series over the Hawks and closes the gap to 3-1. It was the first meeting between the squads since December 6, 2013.
• The 31-point advantage was the largest opened up all season and the 10-point halftime cushion was also the largest.

Next up for St. Joseph's

The Bears take a two-week break for finals week and return to action heading to Central Valley, Pennsylvania on December 29-30 to compete in the DeSales Holiday Tournament. St. Joseph's draws the host Bulldogs in the opening round on Thursday with a 6 p.m. tip. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.