Louison’s 20 and 20 Not Enough as Bears Fall to Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY – Despite receiving a 24 point, 20 rebound effort from freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball could not match four Bulldogs in double figures, falling on the road to borough rivals Brooklyn College, 74-68, on Wednesday night.

Louison shot 10-for-17 from the field including his first career three-pointer and his 20 boards (12 offensive) were a team season best. The last Bear to record 20 points and 20 rebounds was Donald Coleman last season against St. Joseph's (L.I.), but hadn't been accomplished for eight seasons prior.

Also for St. Joseph's (7-8), freshman Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) tallied 11 points, one point shy of his career-high. Senior Antoine Forehand (New York, NY/Rice) added eight points junior and Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) handed out a game-high tying five assists.

Brooklyn College (9-3) had 4-for-5 starters play all 40 minutes, each scoring in double-figures, led by the duo of Kavon Baker and Tyshawn Russell who tallied 21 and 20 points respectively. Russell shared game-high assist honors with Rogowski and swiped a game-high four steals.

The opening stanza would go back-and-forth producing six ties and six lead changes, neither team able to amass more than a five point advantage in the period. Despite the Bulldogs shooting a blistering 55 percent (16-of-29) in the half, the Bears only trailed by two, 36-34, with Louison already recording his seventh double-double (11 pts, 10 reb) and Maddox adding nine points.

Brooklyn took control in the second half, quickly extending their advantage to nine points, but the Bears found themselves in foul trouble early, the Bulldogs shooting the bonus six minutes into the period. Baskets from Louison and Ian Duff (Jamaica, NY/Christ the King) cut the deficit down to five with 12:06 to play but the Bulldogs quickly responded with a dunk and a three-pointer to push the lead to double-digits where it remained for nearly the remainder of the contest.

The Bears were hampered in the second half by an 18-to-11 foul discrepancy which allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 19-of-28 from the charity stripe, accounting for half their offense in the period, while the Bears attempted only 11 free throws. The Bears also committed 14 turnovers in the half, forced by 10 Bulldog steals, leading to 14 points.

St. Joseph's returns home to Brooklyn Technical High School to host another CUNY foe, CCNY, on Saturday, January 14th. Please note the start time has been changed to 3 p.m.