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This
98
Winner U. Valley Forge UVF 3-1
83
Medgar Evers Cougars MEDGAR 1-4
Winner
U. Valley Forge UVF
3-1
98
Final
83
Medgar Evers Cougars MEDGAR
1-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
U. Valley Forge UVF 50 48 98
Medgar Evers Cougars MEDGAR 46 37 83

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Turnovers, missed freebees doom Cougars in loss to Patriots

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The Medgar Evers men's basketball team suffered a frustrating defeat on Saturday afternoon at the Cougars Cave in Brooklyn, NY, falling to the Patriots of the University of Valley Forge by a score of 98-83. Medgar Evers slipped to 1-4 on the young 2021-2022 campaign with the defeat, while the Patriots improved to a mark of 3-1.

Despite the loss for the Cougars, freshman point guard Andre Evans Jr. led all players with game-highs of 26 points and three swatted shots. He connected on nine of his 16 shot attempts, including three from long range, while also grabbing four rebounds. Dante Simmons not only posted a double-double, but also registered three personal season-highs, netting 12 points, snatching a whopping 17 boards, and blocking two shots. Junior Mousa Sinera registered a double-double, his third of the season, scoring 11 points and collecting a game-high 19 boards, and senior Keison McIntosh followed-up his stellar 26-point effort against Division I Fairfield by contributing 14 points and caressing four caroms.

Valley Forge University came into the game paced by Derian Bradford, who was averaging 29.7 points per game through the Patriots first three contests, but it was his brother Owen Bradford who made the biggest impact for his squad today. Playing 37 minutes, he tied for the team-high with 20 points (10-22 FG) while snatching a team-high 16 boards. He also added a pair of assists and two steals. Justin Hill netted 20 points, drilling four three point baskets in the process. Derian Bradford missed 11 shots (5-16 FG), but still managed to finalize his afternoon with 14 points and six rebounds. Tyler Irby nailed four shots from downtown to finish with 12, and Jesse Mateo and Mauro Fernandez finished with 11 points apiece.

In a game that resembled a track meet just as much as it resembled a basketball contest, Valley Forge University held a 24-21 edge with 10:29 remaining in the first half, before putting together an impressive 15-2 run over a span of 3:14 to jump out to a commanding 16 point lead (39-23). That aforementioned run was highlighted by Valley Forge drilling five three point baskets, including four from Tyler Irby.

The Cougars refused to let the game get out of hand, closing out the final 7:15 of the session by outscoring the Patriots 23-11 to pull to within four points. Medgar Evers could have entered the locker room down just two, but a foul committed by James Julien on an attempted buzzer-beating three put Valley Forge's Mauro Fernandez on the line with the clock reading 0:00. Fernandez converted two of three shots from the stripe to give the Patriots a 50-46 lead at the half.

In the second half, Valley Forge held what seemed to be a comfortable 76-63 advantage with 10:27 left, but eight consecutive points by Evans Jr, and a made jumper by Sinera brought Medgar Evers to within striking distance (76-73) with 7:51 left. The Cougars went cold after that though, making just four shots and hitting just 28.5 percent of their attempts from the floor down the stretch (4-14), as the Patriots built their edge up again, eventually going on to win the game by 15 points.

There were many stories of the game, with a majority of those stories not pleasant ones for the home school. Valley Forge University had converted on just nine of 56 attempts from long range in their first three games of the 2021-2022 season (16 percent). Today, the Patriots nailed 12 of those (12-34, 35.3 percent), while Medgar Evers hit just seven from downtown (7-24, 29.1 percent). Turnovers also played a huge factor, with Medgar Evers committing 22 to the opposition's 10. The Patriots netted 24 points off Cougar miscues, while Medgar Evers only converted 10 Valley Forge mistakes into five points.

Valley Forge converted 75 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe (12-16), while the Cougars misfired consistently on the afternoon, hitting just 10-of-22 freebees (45.4 percent). In addition, Valley Forge piled up 29 helpers on the afternoon, compared to 13 for the Cougars.

Medgar Evers snatched 56 boards compared to 50 for the Patriots, and in a rare dominated category, the Cougars swatted 10 shots to the opposition's one.

The Cougars are back in action fairly quickly, as Medgar Evers will take on the Panthers of SUNY Old Westbury at the Cougars Cave. Start-time is scheduled for 6:00pm, and live video of the contest will be available by navigating to the men's basketball schedule page and clicking the "Watch Live" link.
 
 
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