Men’s Basketball Collects Second-Straight One-Point Win Over City College

NEW YORK — Following their first win of the season in the Skyline opener, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team battled the CIty College of New York on the road on Saturday. The Bears trailed for most of the game, but a back-and-forth final few minutes ended in Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) lifting the visitors to a 71-70 triumph with two made free-throws late.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 71, City College 70
• Records: St. Joseph's (2-2), City College (0-4)
• Location: New York — Nat Holman Gymnasium
• SJC Starters: Willis (G), Sirakis (G), Etheart (F), Etheart (F), Meiner (F)

Turning Point

• Senior captain Alec Willis (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) drained a three-pointer at 13:06 in the second to give the Bears a 52-51 lead after trailing for the majority of the game.

How It Happened

• The Beavers began the contest on fire from deep, as they started three-for-three to take a 9-3 lead early on.
• St. Joseph's trailed closely for most of the first until Joseph Idyahia (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) hit both from the line to tie it up at 35 with less than two minutes remaining.
• Sophomore Dimitri Sirakis paced SJC in the period with 10 points (4-6 FG), but they trailed 37-36 at intermission.
• Once again, CCNY controlled the score to begin the frame leading by as much as eight, but the Bears regained the lead on Willis' three ball. From there the lead would change 13 times as both teams exchanged buckets, when Meiner stepped up to the free-throw line and secured the victory.

For the Bears

• Sirakis came up big for the offense all game en route to a team-high 18 points on 8-15 shooting.
• Willis' jumper was in top form, as he poured in 16 points (6-9, 3-4 3FG) with three rebounds and three steals.
• Meiner notched double-digit points for the third time this year (12) and corralled four rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• The Bears led in second-chance points 15-10 behind many tip-ins from Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) (nine points, nine rebounds).
• For the second-straight game, SJC triumphed despite being outrebounded (44-33).

The Bear Facts

• Sirakis is the only Bear to record double-digit points in every game, and he leads the squad with an 18.5 points-per-game average.
• City College is the only CUNYAC opponent for SJC this year, as they finished 2-2 versus the conference last season.

Next Up for the Bears

• A return to Skyline play, hosting Yeshiva on Tuesday (Nov. 28) in the tail end of a double-header at 8 p.m. Live stats and video at SJCBears.com.