Bears Overwhelm Albany Pharmacy, Move into HVMAC Championship

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Powered by a career-high-tying 16 points from David Ortiz (Brooklyn, NY/Christ the King), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team defeated Albany Pharmacy, 73-34, in the semifinals of the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference Championships Saturday night at the College of New Rochelle Wellness Center.

St. Joseph's (16-10) moves on to the finals and will face Berkeley College who defeated Vaughn College in the first semifinal of the day. Albany Pharmacy (13-6) concludes their regular season having lost their last two games.

Ortiz shot 5-of-8 from the field going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc while collecting six rebounds. Ian Duff (Jamaica, NY/Christ the King) poured in 12 points going 4-of-8 from the floor while hitting three trifectas. Double-double machine David Louison (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) nearly collected his 14th double-double of the season falling four points shy while corralling a game-high 17 caroms.

Also contributing for the Bears was Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, NY/Nazareth Regional), Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, NY/St. Edmund Prep) and Matt Marino (Fort Wayne, IN/Rutherford) who each netted eight points. Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) dished out a game-high five assists.

Albany Pharmacy was led by Joe Britt who scored a team-high 13 points while securing six rebounds. Casey Redfern chipped in seven points collecting five caroms.

St. Joseph's opened the game on a 7-0 run helped in part by an O'Neill trey and layup along with a Louison layup and would not look back.  The Bears would go on a 24-3 spurt that put them up 38-11 with 3:40 remaining in the first half. St. Joseph's headed into the locker rooms with a 45-13 lead.

The Bears continued to dominate the second stanza building their lead up to a game-high 39 points with 1:51 remaining on a three-pointer by Marino allowing Coach Cocozello to empty his bench with all 12 Bears seeing action.

St. Joseph's was able to dominate the Panthers in the first half shooting 46 percent (17-of-37) from the field while the Bears suffocating defense held Albany Pharmacy to 19 percent (5-of-27) from the floor.

The Panthers shooting would not improve much in the second half finishing at 20 percent (12-of-61) for the contest while the Bears finished at 41 percent (27-of-66). St. Joseph's was able to win the turnover battle forcing 20 Panther miscues converting them into 18 points while Albany Pharmacy was only able to convert 13 Bear turnovers into three points.

St. Joseph's returns to action tomorrow when they face Berkeley College in the HVMAC Championship Game looking for their first tournament title since 2010. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. at the College of New Rochelle Wellness Center.