Etheart Earns All-Tournament Team Bid but Men’s Basketball Can’t Close Out Colby-Sawyer

BIDDEFORD, Maine — Vying for their first win of the new season, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team suffered a well-contested defeat to Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday. The matchup was the second round of the Hampton Inn Tip-Off Tournament hosted by the University of New England. Sophomore Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) garnered All-Tournament Team honors with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double to follow up his career-high 21 (12 reb) yesterday.

The Basics

• Final Score: Colby-Sawyer 66, St. Joseph's 62
• Records: Colby-Sawyer (1-1), St. Joseph's (0-2)
• Location: Biddeford, Maine — Harold Alfond Forum
• SJC Starters: Willis (G), Sirakis (G), Etheart (F), Etheart (F), Meiner (F)

Turning Point

• A made free-throw from senior Alec Willis (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) knotted the game at 53 with 2:43 left, but 10 points down the stretch from Patrick Coffey sealed the game for Colby-Sawyer.

How It Happened

• Play opened evenly matched, but three balls from Willis and Matt McQuillen (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) gave the Bears their largest lead of the game (21-12) with five minutes to go in the first.
• SJC headed to the break with a low-scoring 25-21 lead behind 10 first-half buckets from sophomore Dimitri Sirakis (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) (50% FG and 3FG).
• The Bears maintained their advantage until a Chargers' trey around the 10-minute mark in the second half put them up 43-40. Their lead would grow as high as six until Willis tied things at 53 from the stripe, with Coffey eventually sealing his squad's first win of the year.

For the Bears

• Sirakis went on to lead the Bears in scoring with 18 (6-16 FG) in a career-high 37 minutes played.
• Stephane Etheart's 12 points (10 reb) secured him a 17.5 ppg, 11 rpg double-double average for the tournament.
• McQuillen led the bench with eight points, four rebounds and three assists, and Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) corralled a team-high 11 boards.

Inside the Box Score

• The game saw five lead changes and the Bears' nine-point first-half advantage was the largest of the night.
• Once again, St. Joseph's outrebounded their opponent in a loss (46-35).

The Bear Facts

• This was men's basketball's first-ever showdown with the Chargers.

Next Up for the Bears

• The Skyline opener taking on preseason favorite Farmingdale State College at The Hill Center on Tuesday (Nov. 21) at 7 p.m. Live stats and video available at SJCBears.com.