Men’s Basketball Battles With Brooklyn D1 Foes St. Francis

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Playing their second Division I opponent of the season and the first-ever meeting between against fellow Brooklyn foes St. Francis Brooklyn, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team (1-6) fell to the Terriers (5-3), 104-75, on Monday evening at the Pope Physical Education Center.

Junior Sebastien Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) led four Bears in double figures and eight to contribute to the ledger with a game-high-tying 19 points, falling one rebound shy of his third straight double-double.

How It Happened

Etheart scored the first six points for the Bears with a pair of triples, but the Terriers raced out to a double-digit advantage six minutes in, 18-8, also using the deep ball, nailing four threes over the spurt.

The Bears couldn't keep pace with St. Francis speed and efficiency shooting 54 percent in the opening half and expanded their lead to 56-30 at the intermission. Sebastien and twin brother Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) combined for 19 in the half, with Stephane shooting 4-for-8 from the field.

St. Joseph's didn't show any quit until the final buzzer and played nearly even with the Terriers in the second stanza, losing the second half by just three, 48-45. After seeing their deficit grow to its peak at 36 at the under-12 timeout, back-to-back jumpers by Frank Reali (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) followed by a Zach MacDonnell (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) powered a quick 8-0 run in just over a minute to close the gap to 79-51.

In the second stanza, the Bears would connect on eight three-pointers with five different Bears knocking down a triple. Over the final three-and-a-half minutes, trifectas from Sebastien Etheart, Richie Simon (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep), and Joseph Idyahia (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) and a pair of free throws from Simon pulled the Bears within one of tying the half with 35 seconds to play with an 11-3 outburst.

For the Bears

• Sebastien Etheart stuffed the stat sheet again with 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, and a block. He also drained a career-high five threes in the process.
• Stephane Etheart followed with 17 points and seven rebounds, extending his streak scoring in double figures to 19 games.
• Idyahia netted a season-high 11 points, knocking down 3-of-5 from behind the arc in his second start of the season.
• Reali rounded out four in double figures with 10 points in a reserve role and Simon chipped in seven points in 13 minutes off the bench.

Next Up for the Bears

The Bears return home tomorrow (Dec. 4) for their only back-to-back of the season hosting Maritime in a Skyline battle tipping off 7 p.m. Live stats and video with Michael Kerr calling the action will be available at SJCBears.com.