Mount Saint Mary Squeaks Past Men’s Basketball in Nailbiter

NEWBURGH, N.Y. — Entering the game with a three-game losing streak, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team (7-10, 3-5) traveled to Mount Saint Mary College (6-11, 2-6) for a Skyline Conference matchup on Tuesday night.

The Bears led by four at the half, but MSMC came out on top behind four players in double-figures and much-improved shooting in the second half.

How It Happened
SJC scoring leader Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) put in four of the Bears' first six points as they led 6-2 early in the contest (16:42). Defense was the theme of the opening minutes as St. Joseph's held the hosts to just six points for the majority of the first and were up 12-6 after a Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) free-throw with 9:15 to go before intermission.

Mount Saint Mary came within two points on multiple occasions, but the Bears maintained a 29-25 bump at halftime as they held the Knights to 29 percent shooting and sophomore Chris Mikos (Freehold, N.J./Saint John Vianney) had a near double-double in the first half alone with nine points (4-6 FG) and 10 boards.

The Bears extended their lead to eight (35-27) early in the second on a jumper from rookie Chris Edwards (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell). However, MSMC responded with eight unanswered to tie things up with 15 minutes to play. From there the game was very closely contested, but SJC found themselves ahead 48-42 with seven minutes remaining after a pair of freebies from Etheart.

Mount Saint Mary did not let up, though, as a 9-0 spurt put them up by one at the 3:42 mark as this game came down to the wire. The Bears were right there as captain Dimitri Sirakis (Oakland Gardens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) buried a jumper to bring them within one (59-58) with one minute to play. The Knights hit a shot with 30 seconds on the clock to go up three and a pair of SJC missed triples in the final seconds prevented the Bears from forcing overtime.

For the Bears

• Mikos finished with nine points (4-7 FG), 11 rebounds, and a block.
• Stephane had a team-high 11 points (seven boards) while his brother Sebastien Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) added nine points, 10 caroms, and four assists.
• Meiner ended up with nine points and eight boards and fellow Staten Islander Frank Reali (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) contributed nine points as well.

Next Up
A return to The Hill Center hosting Maritime College on Thursday (Jan. 30) at 7 p.m. with live stats and video streaming at SJCBears.com/live.