Sirakis’ Game-High 17 Points Lift Men’s Basketball Over Sarah Lawrence to Halt Skid

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Behind a game-high 17 points from captain Dimitri Sirakis (Oakland Gardens, N.Y./St. Francis Prep), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team defeated Sarah Lawrence College (8-11, 4-6) 80-68 at The Hill Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears (7-12, 3-7) led by two at the break despite 24 percent first-half shooting but used a 48 percent mark in the second to pull away and snap a five-game losing streak.

How It Happened
The Bears scored the game's first five points, but Sarah Lawrence responded with nine unanswered, capped by a Liam Barry jumper, giving them a four-point lead after five minutes.

Sirakis later nailed one of his five treys to come within one and neither side pulled away by more than two points for the next five minutes until the Skyline's fourth-leading scorer Omar Jamaleddine finished a layup for a 17-13 lead at 8:04 in the first.

St. Joseph's then reeled off a 7-0 run to go up by five until losing the lead with just under two minutes left in the frame. However, they outscored the Gryphons 7-2 in the final 1:14 of the first, gaining a 31-29 edge after a pair of free-throws from Sebastien Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) with two seconds on the clock.

The Bears began to pull away from the outset of the second as a dunk from Chris Mikos (Freehold, N.J./Saint John Vianney) put them up 40-31 just two minutes in. A couple of minutes later Etheart sunk a triple for a 12-point lead. Then, with the score at 52-42, Sirakis added another long-ball to go ahead by 13 (12:10).

Sarah Lawrence was never fully out of it as they clawed back to within seven multiple times, but they could never make a full comeback as the Bears rode their momentum all the way to the finish to get back in the win column at home.

Post-Game Interviews & Highlights

For the Bears

• Sirakis nailed 5-12 threes en route to his game-high 17 points off the bench.
• Junior guard Frank Reali added 15 points and three steals while Mikos had 13 points and four steals of his own.
• Etheart flirted with a triple-double going for 14 points, 10 boards, and six dimes.
• Stephane Etheart (Hollis, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) came off the bench for nine points and 11 boards while senior Kavan Meiner (Staten Island, N.Y./Susan Wagner) finished with a team-high +21 in 27 minutes of play.

Next Up

A Skyline matchup with the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Wednesday (Feb. 5) on the road at 7:30 p.m. Live stats and video links will be available at SJCBears.com/live.