Men’s Basketball Falls to Manhattanville on Alumni and Family Day

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team (6-10, 2-5) welcomed Manhattanville College to The Hill Center for the finale of the annual Alumni and Family Day on Saturday afternoon. The Valiants (10-6, 5-2) picked up the victory, 69-58, behind physical defense to hand the Bears their third-straight loss.

How It Happened
Both sides started slowly as five minutes into the game Manhattanville led 9-2 after a trey from Petey Galgono. The Bears came back within three (11-8) after a Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) bucket at 12:50. Junior guard Zach MacDonnell (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) continued his hot shooting from the last game as he buried a three soon after checking into the game that cut the deficit to two (15-13).

The Valiants used a 14-7 spurt to gain separation, capped by a Jake Dunn triple at 4:50, bringing them ahead 29-20. They went into the break leading 34-25 powered by three players with at least five points in the first and shot 4-10 from three (44.8 percent overall) while holding the Bears to 30.3 percent shooting through one.

Manhattanville brought the lead up to 12 early in the second, but captain Dimitri Sirakis (Oakland Gardens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) sunk a deep-ball (17:08) to bring SJC back within single digits at 40-31. The Bears continued to claw back and cut the gap to just three (42-39) on a layup from Chris Mikos (Freehold, N.J./Saint John Vianney) five minutes into the second.

The visitors responded with an 18-2 run that brought them back in control, 60-41, with just under six-and-a-half minutes left in the game. Manhattanville didn't look back from there shooting an efficient 51.9 percent in the second to run away with a 69-58 victory.

For the Bears

• Sebastien Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) dropped a team-high 14 points (4-8 FG, 2-4 3FG), with six boards and three helpers.
• Meiner finished with 12 points (6-11 FG) and a team-high seven rebounds (two assists).
• Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) finished with 10 points and six caroms while Frank Reali (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) added seven points (six boards, three steals).

Up Next
The Bears head to Mount Saint Mary College on Tuesday (Jan. 28) hoping to snap their three-game skid with tip set for 8 p.m. Live stats will be available at SJCBears.com/live.