St. Joseph’s overcomes slow start to beat Medgar Evers

January 30, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Michael Megafu (15 in white) scored 24 points, including 18 in the second half, and had 10 rebounds to pick up his 10th double-double of the season in St. Joseph’s win over Medgar Evers College. Photo by Rob Abruzzese.

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The St. Joseph’s College Bears got off to a slow start, but rallied in the second half behind strong performances by David Louison and Michael Megafu to beat Medgar Evers College 88-71 in Clinton Hill Wednesday night.

“We haven’t touched the ball in a while because of the snow and everything going on so we got off to a slow start,” Megafu said. “It took us a while to get our chemistry back, but we eventually got there and we executed very well in the second half.”

The Bears managed to turn things around after a slow first half, especially as Medgar Evers played without it’s two leading scorers and leading rebounder — Matthew Walker and Valin Williams.

St. Joseph’s jumped out to a 16-9 lead early behind a pair of three-pointers from Richard DiPuma. Medgar Evers quickly battled back and tied it at 20 when Reynaldo Eloy hit a three. St. Joseph’s regained the lead, though, when Greg Beehler hit a pair of threes and Alec Willis followed with one of his own.

“Those shots are huge right there because we can’t let them built up their confidence against us,” Louison said. “I’m not surprised to see Beehler hit those, though. I played with him at St. Edmund and he’s always been so cool, calm, collected and poised. Taking big shots like that never get him rattled.”

The game stayed close until the second when the Bears took over. Megafu lead the charge, but many of his teammates chipped in, as they shot 62.2 percent as a unit in the second half and turned it into a blowout.

Megafu finished the game with 24 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season. Louison had 14 points and 17 rebounds for his 15th double-double of the year. The Bears improved to 7-1 in games when they both put up double-doubles this season. Greg Beehler contributed with 15 points and Matt O’Neill had six points and 10 assists.
Medgar Evers got most of its offense off the bench from junior Kyle Sierra, who scored 23 points. Eloy had 14 points and Segura had 13.

St. Joseph’s improved to 6-0 at it’s brand new facility — The Hill Center — in Clinton Hill. After years of playing at Brooklyn Tech and various other gyms throughout Brooklyn, Louison said the new facilities give the Bears an extra shot of adrenaline.

“This place is beautiful,” Louison said. “It just has a great energy to it. We have great fans. It’s a nice feeling. We just have to protect home court. We waited so long for this that we have to protect it.”

The Bears are now 13-7 overall this season and are 3-0 in Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play. They have just five games left in the season and are hoping to go out on top during their final year in the HVIAC before switching to the Skyline Conference next year.

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The St. Joseph’s College women’s team also had success against Medgar Evers College and picked up a 78-45 win at the Hill Center on Wednesday.

Destiny Marino led the Bears with 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists off the bench, Taylor Raccuglia had 10 points, 10 rebounds and four assists and Samantha Retas had 14 points and eight rebounds.

Medgar Evers showed a lot of heart when it played with no bench and only four players after Shakeada Wint hurt her ankle midway through the first half. Nia Tompkins led her team with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists while Kimonia Mullings had 16 points and 13 rebounds.

St. Joseph’s improved to 10-7 overall this season and are 2-0 in HVIAC play. It still has seven games left to play before playoffs begin.