Men's Basketball Advances to HVIAC Tournament Final, Putting Away Vaughn 82-71

ALBANY, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team advanced to the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) Tournament final with an 82-71 victory over Vaughn College in Albany, N.Y. on Saturday.

Forwards David Louison (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) and Michael Megafu (Jamaica, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) set the pace with double-double performances.

Louison netted 12 and grabbed a game-high 14 boards, securing his nineteenth double-double of the season. Megafu picked up where he left off after returning from injury, dropping a team-best 16 points and pulling down 10 caroms for his thirteenth double-double this year.

The Bears have found a close to unbeatable formula, improving to 9-1 when both bigs record double-doubles.

Junior Michael Murray (Glendale, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) rose to the occasion on Saturday, dropping a Bears career-high 15 points in just 14 minutes on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from downtown, providing St. Joseph's with a valuable spark off the bench.

Senior Vernon Maddox (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) contributed 10 more off the bench while freshman Alec Willis (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph by the Sea) drained three from beyond the arc for nine points in addition to a career-high 11 rebounds.

The Warriors were carried on offense by guard Michael Pena. The sophomore exploded for 40 points on 9-of-16 shooting from three.

Tipoff was followed by 4:26 of scoreless play as both sides failed to kickstart their offenses.

Pena finally broke the scoreless tie with a jumper at the 15:34 mark, while Louison responded with his own jumper 21 seconds later to get the Bears on the board.

But St. Joseph's continued to falter as Vaughn's offense found their range. Freshman Tawanto Snead Jr.'s triple increased the Warriors' advantage to double digits (18-7) with 11:04 remaining in the first.

The Bears countered with a quick 7-0 run as they finally began to find the bottom of the net. Murray's three-pointer with 48 seconds left in the period culminated a 12-4 spurt to close the half, giving St. Joseph's a slight 31-29 lead at the break.

After opening the game 0-7 from the floor, the Bears opened up the second half with renewed vigor, claiming their first double-digit advantage (45-35) four minutes into the new period.

St. Joseph's continued to grind down their opponent and the lead ballooned to a game-high 22 points (76-54) following O'Neill's free throw with just 4:31 remaining.

The Warriors closed the game with a 9-0 run, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.

St. Joseph's lost the turnover battle 18-7, largely due to their sloppy start. But the Bears sharpened their play in the second, giving the ball away just five times and holding Vaughn to 34.1 percent from the field in a dominant half with their championship hopes at stake.

Looking to defend their title, the No. 2 Bears will meet No. 1 Berkeley College tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Albany, N.Y. In their only meeting of the season on February 12, Berkeley edged out St. Joseph's 77-68 at The Hill Center. Live stats for the championship faceoff can be found at SJCBears.com.