BROOKLYN, N.Y. - David Louison's free throw with 4:48 remaining in the first half gave St. Joseph's College a lead it would never relinquish as the host Bears rode 23 points from Justin Gist to grab a 77-67 win over the visiting Lightning on Wednesday night.

Lehman was led by 15 points from Kelvin Gil while George Nimmons chipped in 13 and Mathias Raggiotto added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Lightning who dropped to 6-7 on the season.

St. Joseph's also received 14 points from Jan Rogowski and 12 points from Antoine Forehand to improve to 6-7.  As a team, the Bears shot 43 percent (10-of-23) from three-point range.

The Lightning took an early 4-1 lead on a Raggiotto jump shot, but promptly fell behind by 10 as the Bears put together an 18-5 run with Rogowski displaying a shooter's touch from beyond the arc.  Over the four minute span, Rogowski drilled four three-pointers to help St. Joseph's take a 19-9 lead. 

Lehman battled back to take a 24-21 lead on Anthony Rodriguez's traditional three-point play with 8:15 remaining, but Gist answered singlehandedly for the Bears, as the senior from Brooklyn scored 13 of the team's final 17 points.  Fittingly, a three-pointer, this one from Forehand, closed out the half with St. Joseph's leading 38-28.

The Bears would hold a comfortable double digit lead for a majority of the second half, stretching it to much as 16 on Ian Duff's three-point field goal with 9:18 on the clock. 

There was no quit in the Lightning, however, as a basket by Rodriguez with 3:48 to go sliced Lehman's deficit to just six, 63-57.  St. Joseph's David Louison answered right back with a layup and Gist canned a three-pointer a minute and a half later to give the Bears sufficient breathing room at 69-59 to pull out the victory.

The loss is the sixth in seven games for the Lightning who will look to turn things around on January 6 against John Jay College.