PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The nationally-ranked No. 1 University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team finished off a perfect 2022-23 regular-season campaign, defeating the Johnson & Wales University (JWU) Wildcats, 86-70, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) South Division contest Tuesday night inside the Wildcat Center in Providence, R.I. With the win, USJ improves to 25-0 overall and 18-0 in GNAC play. It marks just the 33rd time in NCAA Division III men's basketball history that a team has recorded a 25-game win streak. The Blue Jays are one of just four teams to achieve that feat twice, also winning 25-straight games during the 2019-20 season. Saint Joseph is in the midst of just its fourth full season as a program.

It also marks the first time in GNAC history that a men's basketball program has gone undefeated throughout a regular season. The most consecutive games won by a GNAC men's basketball team is 27 which was set by Albertus Magnus during the 2014-15 season. After the Falcons dropped their second game of the season that year they rattled off 27-straight wins before falling in the NCAA Tournament Second Round. The Blue Jays will have a chance to eclipse that record if they go on to win their third-straight GNAC Tournament Championship which begins next week. 

Graduate student guard Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.) paced the Blue Jays in the victory over the Wildcats (12-12, 9-8 GNAC) on Tuesday night, dropping a game-high 26 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line as the Blue Jays converted on 20-of-28 attempts as a team from the charity stripe. O'Neill was joined by senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) and senior forward Jalen Samuels (Franklin, Mass.) in double figures on the night, netting 16 points and 14 points, respectively. Martin also pulled down a season-high eight rebounds, while Samuels grabbed seven boards and dished out a career-high eight assists.

O'Neill opened the scoring against Johnson & Wales with his first of four three-pointers on the night as the Blue Jays raced out to an early 7-0 lead two and a half minutes into the contest. The Wildcats would respond though with their best run of the ballgame and used a 10-2 spurt to take their first lead, 10-9, with 11:50 left to play in the first half. Both teams traded points over the ensuing five minutes as neither team would lead by more than a point during the span, however foul trouble began to become an issue for JWU as the Blue Jays entered the bonus with 7:54 left on the first-half timer.

A pair of made Samuels free throws gave Saint Joseph back the lead, 20-19, with 6:39 to go before the break. Those free throws kickstarted an 8-0 USJ run that took just over a minute's time to push the Blue Jays out in front 26-19 with 5:23 left. JWU's freshman forward Izaiah Shaw-Glen (Baldwin, N.Y.) halted the run with a three to pull the Wildcats back within four, 26-22, but that would be as close as the hosts would get for the remainder of the contest. The Blue Jays outscored the Wildcats 12-5 over the remaining four-plus minutes of the first half, highlighted by a monstrous left-handed driving slam by Samuels with 31 seconds left, and took a 38-27 lead into the intermission.

The Blue Jays picked up right where they left off the first half and opened the second half strong, scoring nine of the first 11 second-half points to build an 18-point lead, 47-29. The Wildcats tried to chip into USJ's lead and trimmed their deficit down to 11 (54-43) after a three-pointer from graduate student guard Jontai Williams (Bronx, N.Y.) with 13:20 left to play. However, USJ's graduate student forward Jake Sullivan (Branford, Conn.) nailed a triple of his own on the Blue Jays' next trip down the floor to silence the crowd. JWU would get within 11 points on three separate occasions following the Sullivan three, but never could muster a big run to get it back within single digits for the remainder of the game.

Leading 62-51 with 10 minutes left in regulation, Saint Joseph broke the game open with a 17-6 spurt over a five-plus minute span to take its largest lead of the game, 79-57. Senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) netted 10 of his 16 points for the game during the game-breaking run and the Blue Jays coasted the rest of the way en route to an 86-70 victory.

The Blue Jays shot better than 50% from the floor as a team for the eighth time this season, connecting on 53.6% (30-56) of its attempts against the Wildcats. They also shot better than 40% from three-point range, hitting 46.2% (6-13) of their tries from beyond the arc. Although the Blue Jays don't take a high volume of shots from distance (17.5 per game - 364th in the nation), they are connecting at a high percentage on the season at 39.6%, which currently ranks seventh in the nation.

JWU was limited to 36.5% (23-63) shooting on the night, including 40.0% (8-20) from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Josh Zangerle (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) paced the Wildcats with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-4 from three-point distance. Senior guard Aireus Raspberry joined Zangerle in double figures, finishing with 17 points (5-22 FG, 1-5 3FG, 6-6 FT) in a full 40 minutes of floor time.

The Blue Jays held a slight edge on the glass, 39-32, and had a significant advantage in points in the paint, 44-26.

UP NEXT

Saint Joseph, which has run the table in conference play in each of its last three full seasons and won 53 consecutive GNAC contests, now sets its sights on the upcoming GNAC Postseason Tournament. The Blue Jays are the two-time defending GNAC champions and have earned the No. 1 seed in the North Division and home-court advantage throughout the entire upcoming tournament. USJ will host the No. 4 seed out of the North Division in a quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m. inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in West Hartford, Conn. Postseason ticket information will be avaliable as soon as matchups are finalized and can be found by visiting www.usjbluejays.com/tickets.