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MBB
89
Winner St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) STJOESBK 1-0
86
Medgar Evers College MEDGAR 0-2
Winner
St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) STJOESBK
1-0
89
Final
86
Medgar Evers College MEDGAR
0-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) STJOESBK 29 47 13 89
Medgar Evers College MEDGAR 39 37 10 86

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Cougars drop home opener to Bears, 89-86 in overtime; James Julien scores 25 points (seven trifectas) despite loss

In a wild game with countless pendulum swings, the Medgar Evers College men's basketball team (0-2) was outlasted by the Bears of St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn by a score of 89-86 in overtime. The game between the non-conference borough foes took place at the Cougars Cave, marking the first time the gymnasium hosted fans for a varsity basketball game in 1,002 days. 

The crowd at the Cougars Cave was alive and fierce all evening long, and Medgar Evers certainly fed off the energy. Veteran James Julien put forth one of the best, if not the best evening of his career, scoring a team-high 25 points while nailing nine of his 18 attempts from the floor, including seven from downtown. He also added a pair of steals, as well. Senior Mousa Sinera registered his first double-double of the young season, scoring 17 points (6-12 FG, 5-7 FT), while snatching a whopping 21 rebounds, boosting his career total to 725 caroms in the process. Dimitri Weeks scored 16 points while notching a team-high five assists and tying for the game-high of three steals, and newcomer Nicholas Bocharov nailed three shots from long range, finishing with 11 points and four rebounds.

For Saint Joseph's University-Brooklyn, Evan Sirakis dazzled all evening, hitting eight of his 14 attempts from the floor, and 12 of his 15 freebees to finish with a game-high 31 points. He also snatched 10 rebounds, tallied a game-high six assists, and added three steals. Jonathan Reno and Chris Williams scored 16 points apiece, and Adam Jasaraj recorded a double-double with 15 points and a team-high 16 rebounds. 

The Bears took their biggest lead of the first half when Sirakis drained a three-point basket with 10:37 remaining in the stanza to put his team up 25-11. The Cougars then used a ferocious 28-4 run over the rest of the half to storm into the locker room with a 10 point advantage, 39-29. During that aforementioned spurt, Medgar Evers connected on six three-point baskets, including three by Julien, one by Weeks, one by Bocharov, and another by Tenzin Dayab.

In the early stages of the second session, it appeared as though perhaps the Cougars would start to run away with the game, as Medgar Evers built a commanding 16 point edge, 52-36, with 15:35 to go. A 19-6 St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn run over the ensuing 5:19 cut the Cougars' lead to three at 58-55. The Cougars responded with a quick 8-2 run (featuring a three-point basket apiece by Julien and Bocharov, and a layup by Weeks) to go back up 66-57 with 8:30 to go.

The Bears refused to go quietly, out-scoring Medgar Evers 12-2 over a span of 5:26 to catapult ahead by a score of 69-68. St. Joe's would go up by as many as four points (75-71) with 47 seconds to go, but a Sinera layup with 38 seconds remaining would make it 75-73.

On the ensuing Bears possession, a turnover by Sirakis would give the ball back to Medgar Evers. The Cougars would give it right back, though, as Weeks would commit a turnover, with Williams picking up a steal. Williams was then fouled, and would proceed to split a pair of free throws, giving the Bears a three-point lead (76-73) with 29 seconds left.

The Cougars would tie the game on their next trip down the floor when AJ Evans converted on a layup while drawing a foul. He would hit the freebee to make it 76-76. Neither team was able to score in the closing seconds, sending the thriller to an extra period.

Medgar Evers seemed to be in control during the overtime period, holding a three-point lead on three different occasions, the final time coming when the Cougars held an 86-83 edge with 1:04 left. The Bears sliced the home team's advantage to one (86-85) on a converted layup by Jasaraj, and after Evans misfired on a trifecta, Williams hustled down the other end of the floor and converted on a fastbreak layup to make it 87-86 visitors.

Later, with 2.8 seconds remaining, Sirakis nailed two free throws to put the Bears ahead 89-86. Medgar Evers, with no timeouts remaining, was not able to advance the ball to mid-court with a timeout. Therefore, after the ball was in-bounded to Evans, he quickly swung a pass into the front court, which was caught by Bocharov, but his turnaround off-balance desperation heave caught only glass and was off the mark, giving the visitors the victory.

Both teams shot the ball relatively well on the evening, with St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn hitting on 46.3 percent of its attempts from the floor (31-67) compared to a 39.5 percent conversion rate for Medgar Evers (32-81). Free throw efficiency was not trending this evening, as the Bears hit on 19 of their 32 attempts from the charity stripe (59.4 percent), while the Cougars connected on 10 of 20 (50 percent). The Bears held a slight edge in the rebounding (51-44) category, while also swatting five shots to two for the opposition. Medgar Evers registered 20 assists to St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn's 19, while also winning the turnover battle, commiting 19 miscues while forcing 24. Each team picked up 10 steals on the night.

The Cougars will now have eight days off before returning to the court on Saturday afternoon, November 19th, as Medgar Evers will travel to Medford, Massachusetts to take on Lesley University. Start-time is scheduled for 1:30pm.
 
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