Four Score in Double Figures as Bears Return to .500 Mark

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team built their longest win streak of the season at three games and returned to the .500 mark for the first time in over a month, defeating Polytechnic Institute of NYU, 74-48, on Monday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

St. Joseph's (7-7) was paced by senior Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) who netted a game-high tying 15 points, six rebounds and three assists. The Bears produced a balanced offense with four Bears finishing in double digit scoring. Freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) netted 14 points with a team-high eight rebounds. Senior Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) contributed 13 points with four steals. Junior Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) chipped in 12 points with seven caroms.

NYU-Poly (0-10) was led by a double-double performance from Brendon Henry, scoring 15 points to share game-high honors with Gist and pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds. Fabian Thomas added seven points and dished out a game-high five assists.

A three-pointer by Jethro Auguste to open the scoring gave the Blue Jays a brief advantage, but the Bears took over the lead and would not relinquish it. But the team seeking their first win of the season kept the game close in the opening period. After the Bears assembled their largest lead of the half, 28-18, with three minutes remaining, the Blue Jays closed the half on a 7-0 run to enter the lockers trailing 28-25. The Blue Jays outshot the Bears in the half, 39% to 25%, but committed 15 turnovers that led to 12 Bears' points.

The second half would be all St. Joseph's the Bears pushed their lead to double digits with a 10-2 run in the first five minutes, with Louison scoring three of his 13 second half points in the run. The lead hovered around 12 until a 12-2 run pushed the lead over 20 where it would remain until the final buzzer. St. Joseph's shot an improved 42 percent (15-of-36) in the half while the defense limited the Blue Jays to 28 percent (8-of-29) shooting and swiped nine steals.

St. Joseph's had a season second-best 17 steals and forced a season high 30 turnovers, leading to 29 points. Both teams fell in love with the deep-ball hoisting up a season-high combined 53 three-point attempts, but only connecting at a 23 percent rate (12 made).

The victory gives the Bears a 5-3 edge in the all-time series which was revived after a five year hiatus. Former Bear player and assistant coach Nolan Adams '04 is the first-year head coach of NYU-Poly.

St. Joseph's returns to action on the road on Wednesday, January 11 in a cross-borough rivalry against CUNY foe Brooklyn College slated to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.