Bears Rally Falls Short Against Mount Saint Vincent

RIVERDALE, NY – The St. Joseph's College men's basketball team erased a 14 point halftime deficit to draw even with the College of Mount Saint Vincent with five minutes remaining, however the Dolphins pulled away from the Bears to take an 88-83 victory on Friday night at the Hayes Gymnasium.

Junior guard Justin Gist (Newsome, FL/Newsome) led all scorers amassing 25 points, his fourth game this season of 20 or more points, shooting 46 percent (10-for-22) from the field.  Senior forward Wilkerson Exantus (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth) recorded his third straight double-double scoring 12 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds (eight offensive).  Junior forward Jon Matzelle (Maspeth, NY/St. Francis Prep) tallied 16 points and fell one rebound shy of a double-double.  Senior guard Lew Monaco (Staten Island, NY/Msgr. Farrell) added 11 points and dished out a game-high-tying five assists.  Matzelle, Monaco and Gist each drained three triples for the Bears who combined for 10 on the game, shooting 48 percent from behind the arc.

Pat Panetta paced the Mount Saint Vincent (9-13) scoring 22 points and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds in a reserve role.  Three other Dolphins finished in double figures with Cody Gauvard scoring 15, Carson Miller adding 14 and blocking five shots, while Shaquille Cunningham chipping in 10.

Mount Saint Vincent shot 60 percent (21-for-35) in the opening 20, with Miller and Panetta each netting 14 first-half points, and held a double-digit lead for most of the period.  The Dolphins dominated inside scoring 26 of their 47 points inside the paint.

St. Joseph's came out firing connecting on back-to-back-to-back trifectas by Matzelle and Gist to trail by five, 47-42.  The Bears continued to claw back into the game – a Monaco triple drawing the game even 59-59 at 11:08 and an Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) basket giving the Bears their first and only lead of the game 61-59.  St. Joseph's would equalize the game two more times, but a late 10-2 run gave Mount Saint Vincent an eight point lead with under a minute to play.  A Matzelle traditional three-point play cut the deficit to three with 22 seconds left, but the Dolphins maintained their lead shooting a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

St. Joseph's (7-15, 5-0 HVMAC) drops their second straight road contest.  The Bears, who have already captured the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference regular season title, close out conference play on Monday, February 15 travelling down Willoughby Avenue to square off against Pratt at 7 p.m.