Brooklyn, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Basketball team forced the Bears of St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) into 21 turnovers, which led to 22 BC points, as the Bulldogs defeated the Bears, 85-76, in a non-conference matchup between the borough rivals on Wednesday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School. With the win, Brooklyn improves to 5-11 overall on the season, while St. Joe's (BK) falls to 10-9 overall on the year.

The Bulldogs were led by freshman Egzon Gjonbalaj, who led all scorers with a career-high 25 points, shooting 10-for-12 from the field, including going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Gjonbalaj also grabbed eight rebounds. Senior Kavon Baker added 23 points, while classmate Steven Grant finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Senior Abdul Lanlokun had eight points, while freshman Nicholas Grasso swiped four steals, to go with six rebounds.

The Bears were paced by David Louison's 20 points and game-high 20 rebounds, for the double-double; while Michael Megatu also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Matt O'Neill chipped in with 20 points.

The Bulldogs began the game on a quick 6-0 run to take the early momentum. Lousion got the home team on the board with a free throw at the 17:30 mark of the opening period.

Following a lay-up from Lanlokun that put BC up 15-9, with 14:14 remaining in the half, the Bulldogs offense would go cold, as the Bears used a 10-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 19-15 lead with 9:47 left before the halftime break. Brooklyn's offense would reawaken, as the Bulldogs answered with a 12-0 run to go up eight, 27-19, at the 6:04 mark.

The Bears would not go down lightly; however, as St. Joe's (BK) outscored Brooklyn 19-9 to close out the first half and take a slim 38-36 halftime lead.

The start of the second half was the same as the first, as Brooklyn netted the first six points of the period to regain the lead, 42-38, with 18:32 remaining in the game. The game would remain tight, as the Bears tied the game three times over the next four minutes, however, the Bulldogs would answer every St. Joe's basket and never relinquish its lead.

After the Bears' Jan Rogowski tied the game for the fifth time at 45 all, with 14:36 on the clock, Brooklyn used a quick 11-0 run over the next two minutes to go up 56-45, with 12:36 left in the ballgame. The Bulldogs would eventually go up by as many as 15, 72-57, on a pair of free throws from Shayne Martinez with 6:00 remaining in the game.

The Bears would chip away at its deficit and eventually get to within five points on two occasions; however, Brooklyn would answer the test and eventually take a hard fought, 85-76, victory.

For the game, Brooklyn shot 45% (30-66) from the field and 33% (4-12) from three. BC also shot 68% (21-31) from the free throw line.

St. Joseph's (BK) shot 38% (28-73) from the field and 25% (4-16) from downtown. The Bears also went 16-for-24 (67%) from the stripe.

St. Joe's owned the glass, out-rebounding the Bulldogs 54-39, which led to 17 second chance points.

After playing its last two games on the road, Brooklyn returns home to the West Quad Center this Friday, January 25th, for a crucial City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) matchup, as the Bulldogs will welcome the College of Staten Island Dolphins, who are currently atop the conference standings. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm.