Men’s Basketball Takes on Columbia for First Division I Opponent Since 2014-15

NEW YORK — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team took on Columbia University in an exhibition game on Sunday, playing their first Division I team since NJIT on January 14, 2015. The Bears fell 85-38 as they prepare for three-straight Skyline matchups over the next week.

How It Happened
Columbia set the tone immediately as they opened the contest with four three-pointers in the first four minutes to go ahead 12-0. The hosts lead would swell to 22-7 at 12:33 in the first, but Dimitri Sirakis (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) put up five points over the next thirty seconds to bring the Bears into double-digits and cut the deficit to 10.

However, the Lions closed the half on a 33-7 run for a 55-19 halftime lead behind 23 points at the break from Gabe Stefanini. Columbia held the Bears to 21.7 percent field-goal shooting in the first while hitting half of their attempts to establish a lopsided advantage.

St. Joseph's defense improved in the second half, holding the Lions to 30 points and 36.4 percent shooting from the floor. Offensively, they saw eight players record a point and 10 of their 15 bench points scored in the period despite finishing on the wrong end of a one-sided, exhibition loss.

For the Bears

• Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) dropped a team-high nine points while Sirakis finished with seven and two steals.
• Tyler Holness (Boston, Mass./Malden) paced the reserves with seven points, tied for the team high with four rebounds, and added an assist and a steal.
• As a team the Bears tied their season high in free-throw percentage, hitting 76.9 percent of their attempts at the line.

Next Up for the Bears
A return to Skyline action playing Yeshiva on the road this Tuesday (Nov. 27) at 8 p.m. Links to live stats and video will be available at SJCBears.com.