NEW YORK, N.Y. – Despite the third double-double of the season by junior David Louison (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) men's basketball team could not overcome a hot shooting night by Hunter College falling 69-57 as the Hawks celebrated homecoming on Friday night at the Hunter College Sportsplex.

The Bears (3-5) fall back to two games under .500 on the year and have not won two games in a row while the Hawks (4-4) improve to .500 on the year and have now won two games in a row following a three-game slide.

St. Joseph's scored the first two points of the contest on a Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) layup eight seconds in and held a 4-2 lead less than a minute in but that would be the last time the Bears held the lead as Hunter used 54.2 percent shooting in the opening half to build a 32-21 halftime lead which proved too much for St. Joseph's to come back from. The Bears could not keep up with the shot making by the Hawks finishing the night making 36.1 percent of their shots compared to the 54.3 percent shot by Hunter.

Louison ended the night with 10 points and 11 rebounds while junior Vernon Maddox(Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) followed up his career-high-tying 15 points against King's with 13 points, four boards and four assists. O'Neill also contributed 13 points while coming up with three thefts.  Sophomore Michael Megafu (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth Regional) nearly finished with his fourth double-double of the season producing eight points and 11 caroms.

The Hawks were paced by leading scorer on the year, Frankie Drayton, who finished with a game-high 15 points and eight assists.

TURNING POINT

After Maddox connected on a jump shot with 6:14 remaining in the opening half to knot the score up at 20-20, Hunter responded with a 14-1 run that spanned from the 5:59 mark of the first half into the early moments of the second half to give themselves the lead for good at 34-21 with 19:40 left to play.

The Bears would cut the deficit to seven, 41-34, with 12:03 left to play but the Hawks offense proved too much to handle as they continued their impressive shooting in the second half nailing 54.5 percent of their shots to maintain a comfortable lead throughout the remainder of the contest.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other contributors: Greg Beehler (7 pts, 3 stl, 2 reb)  Ian Duff (5 pts, 1 reb)
• After shooting 31 percent (9-of-29) in the opening half the Bears improved to 40.6 percent (13-of-32) in the second period.
• Hunter got the better of St. Joseph's at the charity stripe shooting 88.2 percent (15-of-17) compared to the Bears 62.5 percent (10-of-16).
• St. Joseph's held a 34-28 rebounding edge including an 18-7 advantage on the offensive glass.
• Bears outscored the Hawks 19-7 in second chance points.
• Hunter received contributions from their bench holding a 22-8 margin in bench points.
• St. Joseph's held Hunter to four made treys which is below their CUNYAC-leading 7.3 per game coming into tonight.

THE BEAR FACTS

• The 54.3 percent shooting from the field is the highest allowed by the Bears since Rochester College shot 52.8 percent against St. Joseph's in the USCAA Tournament at the end of last season.
• St. Joseph's wins the battle on the glass for only the third time this season.
• Hunter now leads the all-time series 3-0 dating back to 2006.

NEXT UP FOR THE BEARS

St. Joseph's returns to Brooklyn Technical High School on Tuesday, December 10th for a 7:30 p.m. non-conference matchup against NYU-Poly.