WESTON, Mass. – St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn had four players reach double-digits in points as the Bears defeated host Regis College, 70-59, on Friday night in the opening game of the Regis College Tip-Off Tournament. The Bears (1-0) advance to take on Purchase College (1-0) in the Championship game on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Regis (0-1) will take on Hartwick College (0-1) in the consolation game at 1:00 p.m.
The Bears were led by double-double efforts from Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and David Louison (Brooklyn, N.Y.) as Megafu posted 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Louison added 10 points and a game-high 17 rebounds in the win.
Regis took its first lead of the day on a Ryan Chambers (Abington, Mass.) three-ball that gave the Pride an early 3-2 lead in the opening minutes. The two teams traded points before a three-pointer from David Ortiz (Brooklyn, N.Y.) followed by back-to-back layups from Megafu and Louison gave the Bears an 11-5 lead. Regis cut the lead to 13-10 on Jordan Monts' (Springfield, Mass.) first career bucket, but that is as close as the Pride would get as a pair of Kevin Alesi (Staten Island, N.Y.) free throws extended the St. Joseph's lead to 21-14 with 7:40 to play in the opening half.
Carlos Bermudez-Glean (Boston, Mass.) nailed a jumper with just under seven minutes to play to make it a 21-16 deficit, but the Bears went on a quick 10-0 run to make it a 15 point game with 4:39 to play. Ethan Peana (Staten Island, N.Y.) put a stop to the run with a jumper and Regis forced the deficit down to eight on Mario Payne's (Boston, Mass.) first bucket of the day with under a minute to go, but the Pride entered the break down nine, 36-27.
St. Joseph's Megafu led all scorers at the break with nine points, while Louison registered 10 rebounds in the opening period. Peana led the Pride attack with eight points and five rebounds in the opening frame as Regis was outrebounded at a 20-13 clip.
Regis came out firing to open the half as Peana and Bermudez-Glean traded baskets with Megafu before a Chambers fast break layup made it a 38-33 contest only 1:26 into the second half. The Bears responded with three-straight baskets including a three-ball from Jan Rogowski (Woodside, N.Y.) and a pair of jumpers by Megafu to take a 12 point lead.
Regis again made a small push as Ahmad Charles (Cambridge, Mass.) buried a jumper to make it 45-38, but another 7-0 burst from the Bears made it a 14 point game on an Alesi triple. The Pride would only get as close as nine the rest of the way as St. Joseph's kept the Pride at bay and held on for an 11 point, 70-59 win.
St. Joseph's won the battle on the glass, outrebounding Regis 41-24 and led in second chance points (16-9) and points in the paint (30-24). The Pride won the turnover battle, committing only 20 miscues to the Bears' 25, but the difference in the game came at the charity stripe as St. Joseph's hit 15-of-18 freebies (83.3%) compared to just 9-of-20 (45%) for the Pride.
The Pride were led by 14 points from Ryan Chambers, who knocked in four three-pointers, while Bermudez-Glean and Ahmad Charles chipped in with 11 points apiece. Ethan Peana added 10 points and a team-best five rebounds, while Evin Matted (Hartford, Conn.) came off the bench to block four shots. Bermudez-Glean added three assists and a game-high five steals.
Jan Rogowski joined Megafu and Louison in double-digits with 16 points and four rebounds. David Ortiz added 10 points and three rebounds as well. Rogowski and Ian Duff (Jamaica, N.Y.) led the Bears with three assists apiece.