Willis Drops Season-High 18 but Mount Saint Mary Upends Men’s Basketball

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team looked to follow up a league victory in their previous game hosting Mount Saint Mary College in another Skyline matchup Saturday evening. SJC fell behind early and couldn't combat the Knights' efficient long-range attack en route to an 83-51 loss, dropping them to .500 (2-2) in conference play.

The Basics

• Final Score: Mount Saint Mary 83, St. Joseph's 51
• Records: Mount Saint Mary (2-3, 2-1), St. Joseph's (3-4, 2-2)
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y. — The Hill Center
• SJC Starters: Willis (G), Sirakis (G), Etheart (F), Etheart (F), Meiner (F)

Turning Point

• Tyler McDine and Daniel Wolff scored all of the Knights' buckets on an 18-0 run to open up the game and give them control of the game that they would never relinquish.

How It Happened

• A McDine three with 12:38 on the clock pushed the lead to 18-0, while junior Joseph Idyahia (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) opened the scoring for the Bears with a three 35 seconds later.
• Sophomore scoring-leader Dimitri Sirakis (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) topped St. Joseph's at the break with eight points, as his three at 7:39 in the first gave the Bears' double-digits trailing 32-11.
• The Knights shot a staggering 10-19 (52.6%) from beyond the arc in the half. On the other hand, SJC struggled hitting only 19% of their three-point attempts in the opening period.
• Wolff nailed his sixth three on a perfect night from deep (6-6) en route to a game-high 22, helping the Knights out to their largest lead of the game (35) 73-38 with 7:30 left.
• Senior Alec Willis (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) scored 13 of his 18 in the half, attempting to revitalize the offense, but it proved unsuccessful as the Bears never led in their fourth loss of 2017-18.

For the Bears

• Willis corralled two takeaways to go with his season-best scoring.
• Sirakis finished with eight points on 2-for-9 shooting but handed out six assists in the loss.
• Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) was busy in the paint, leading the squad with seven boards and swatting two shots.
• Idyahia and Sebastien Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) scored seven apiece in a low-scoring night for St. Joseph's.

Inside the Box Score

• Despite having an off-game in other shooting categories, the Bears' led in FT% with an 80% showing.
• Mount Saint Mary buried nearly half of their three-point attempts on the night, finishing with a 48.5% 3FG%.

The Bear Facts

• The two teams met for just the fourth time as conference opponents on Saturday; Mount Saint Mary won two of the first three meetings, including a 21-point road win last season.

Next Up for the Bears

• A trip to Throggs Neck to battle Maritime College in another Skyline showdown on Tuesday (Dec. 5) at 7 p.m. Live stats and video at SJCBears.com.