Bears Watch Lead Slip Away in Loss to Hunter

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team built a 20 point second half lead, but couldn't hold off Hunter College, falling 64-60 on Monday afternoon at Brooklyn Technical High School in the first meeting between the two schools in five seasons.

St. Joseph's (8-9) was paced by junior Jan Rogowski (Woodside, NY/St. John's Prep) who went 7-for-12 from the field, including two three-pointers, to tally a game-high 19 points, matching his season high. Freshman David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund's Prep) recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Justin Gist (Brooklyn, NY/Newsome) added 10 points and junior Ismael Dabo (Long Island City, NY/St. John's Prep) grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds and swatted away two shots.

Hunter (7-8) was led by towering 6-11 center Panagiotis Koutsoloukas who posted a double-double with 16 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks before fouling out. Mark Courtien added 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc. Jeffrey Daza rounded out the three Hawks in double-figures with 13 points.

Both teams displayed sloppy basketball in the opening half, both shooting under 30 percent for the period. Junior Thomas Karasinski (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) provided much of the early offense draining three trifectas forcing Hunter to come out of their zone defense. The Bears broke away late with an 11-1 run powered by six points from Rogowski and capped by a Gist steal and three-point play, giving the Bears a 27-16 lead with 2:56 in the half. St. Joseph's went into the lockers up 33-20, and parlayed 16 Hawks miscues into 12 points.

A pair of Rogowski jumpers and an and-one layup from Dabo to open the second stanza gave the Bears a 40-20 advantage. But despite shooting into a glaring afternoon sun peeking through the gym windows, the Hawks  shot an improved 42 percent (15-of-36) in the half to whittle away at the Bears lead. Courtien connected on three three-pointers as the Hawks responded with a 14-3 run to bring the lead to single digits. The Hawks later assembled another 9-0 run to finally catch the Bears with 3:50 left and pulled away to a 58-53 advantage with 2:30 to play.

Down two with a minute to play, David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King) forced a steal and dished off to Rogowski for an acrobatic layup that drew a lot of contact with no whistle and brought the sixth tie of the game, 60-60. The Hawks managed to score an easy layup on the ensuing possession as the Bears appeared to blow a defensive assignment. The Bears still had a chance to tie or win with 13 seconds remaining, but a crucial turnover would seal their fate.

St. Joseph's will look to rebound on Saturday, January 21st as they resume their league schedule facing perennial rivals and defending Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference champions, Berkeley College. The HVMAC tilt will tip-off at 3 p.m. at Borough of Manhattan Community College as the lead game of a doubleheader with the women. Fans can follow the action with live stats on www.sjcbears.com.