Monaco Sets Two Career-Highs in Loss To Rutgers-Camden

CAMDEN, NJ – Senior guard Lew Monaco (Staten Island, NY/Msgr. Farrell) set two career-highs, scoring 23 points and grabbing eight rebounds, as the St. Joseph's College men's basketball team lost 96-72 to Rutgers-Camden (4-2) on Monday night.

The Bears were overmatched against the NJAC squad who finished with five players in double-figures, four who set career-highs, and shot a combined 46.9 percent for the game which included 14 three-pointers at a rate of 58.3 percent (14-for-24).  St. Joseph's held a 47-45 edge off the boards, but shot only 36.2 percent (25-for-69) from the floor.

Rutgers-Camden built an early 16-8 lead at the five minute mark, but the Bears stormed back to tie the game at 18-18.  St. Joseph's missed their next five shots and the Scarlet Raptors scored the next seven points to take the lead for good.

Monaco scored 13 of his game-high total in the opening half and finished shooting 50 percent (7-for-14) from the floor and 4-for-10 from behind the arc. Rutgers-Camden took a 48-35 lead into the break and the Bears never came closer than 11 points (48-37) the rest of the way.

The Bears also received 10 points (4-8 FG, 2-5 3FG) from senior guard Larry Fawcett (Middle Village, NY/Christ the King) and eight points from junior forward Jon Matzelle (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep).  Monaco, Matzelle and freshman Cesar Madera each grabbed eight rebounds, career bests for Monaco and Madera, and tying Camden junior center Jared Meredith (Lakewood, NJ/BCIT-Medford) for game-high honors. Monaco and Madera also tied for a team-high four assists each.

Junior Shawn Greene (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) scored a game-high 20 points, including 6-for-7 from three-point range, to lead Rutgers-Camden.  Senior guard Richard Jean-Jacques (Elizabeth, NJ/Woodbridge) tallied 17 points and a game-high six assists.  Junior forward Kevin Brown (Port Norris, NJ/Millville) added 15 points and four assists.

St. Joseph's is 0-3 playing in New Jersey this season and 0-2 against NJAC schools.

The Bears (1-7) return home to host sibling campus St. Joseph's-Long Island on Saturday, December 12 as the featured event of a doubleheader at Brooklyn Technical High School.  In the event billed as "Clash for the Cup," both campuses will face off for rights to the first ever SJC Cup and in the spirit of the holidays, the winning campus will receive $750 to award to a charity of their choice while the losing campus will receive $250. The Brooklyn campus will be playing for the Special Olympics while the Patchogue campus will be playing for the American Diabetes Association.  The women's game will tip-off at 6 p.m. and with the men to follow at approximately 8:30 p.m.