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WeWon
63
Winner Medgar Evers MEDGAR 1-0,0-0 CUNYAC
62
St. Joseph's (Brkln) SJCBK 0-1,0-0 Skyline
Winner
Medgar Evers MEDGAR
1-0,0-0 CUNYAC
63
Final
62
St. Joseph's (Brkln) SJCBK
0-1,0-0 Skyline
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Medgar Evers MEDGAR 28 35 63
St. Joseph's (Brkln) SJCBK 38 24 62

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Cougars storm back from 14 down, defeat St. Joe's-Brooklyn in '23-'24 season opener

The Medgar Evers men's basketball team started its 2023-2024 campaign with a big victory, rallying from a 14-point deficit to defeat the St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn Bears by a score of 63-62. The victory marked the first time in seven years that the Cougars won their season opener, last defeating the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's University-Long Island 94-61 back on November 15, 2016.

Leading the way for the Cougars in their victory was veteran Joshua Jean Pierre, as he finished with a team-high 15 points, connecting on six of his nine shot attempts in the process. He also pulled down 10 rebounds while registering two steals. Newcomer Nicholas Guillen contributed 13 points and three boards, and Michael Perez and Andre Evans Jr. each finalized their evenings with 12 points apiece. Dante Simmons was the game's leading rebounder, pulling down 14 caroms.

Despite the loss for the Golden Eagles, St. Joseph's University-Brooklyn standout Jonathan Reno led all scorers with 17 points, draining five trifectas on the evening. He also snatched five boards, dished three assists, and tallied two steals. Evan Sirakis finalized his evening with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Max Butler posted a double-double, scoring 10 points, snatching a team-high 11 boards, and contributed two assists, a pair of swatted shots, and two steals.

The Cougars raced out to an early 7-3 lead in the opening stages of the contest. The game later saw ties of 10-10 and 12-12, before the Bears put together an 18-4 run over a span of 6:31 to take their biggest lead of the game, 30-16.

Medgar Evers, down 14, put together a 5-0 run over a span of 2:08 to slice their deficit to single digits, 30-21. An Evans Jr. converted layup, a made free throw by Jerome Hodges, and a drained jumper by Simmons accounted for the points during the run. St. Joe's answered that with a drilled three-point basket by Reno, as the Bears went back ahead by double figures, 33-21. Medgar pulled to within seven at one juncture, before heading into the locker room trailing by 10, 38-28.

In the second half, things appeared bleak for Medgar Evers, as the Cougars trailed by 11, 52-41, with 13:28 remaining. The pendulum then swung Medgar Evers' way emphatically, as Medgar outscored the hosts by a count of 15-3 over a span of 9:04, to jump ahead by a score of 56-55. During that stretch of just over nine minutes of basketball, the Cougars defense was completely dominant, holding the Bears to 1-14 shooting with two turners.

The Bears retook the lead with 4:12 remaining after Max Butler converted on a jumper, as St. Joe's went ahead 57-56. 64 seconds later, Perez converted on a layup in the paint to give the Cougars a 58-57 edge. For the remainder of the game, the teams would exchange the lead four more times, with the latter of those changes coming with 23 seconds remaining, when Perez would hit a  clutch three-point basket to put the visitors ahead 63-62. The Bears had two final chances to make a game-winning shot, but Adam Jasara missed a jumper in the paint with three seconds to go, and later, Jasara misfired on a half-court heave. As the buzzer sounded, the Cougars celebrated their hard-fought victory.

For the game, Medgar Evers converted on 37.5 percent of its attempts from the floor (24-64), while St. Joe's connected on 26 of its 74 shot attempts (35.1 percent). The Cougars held a respectable 53-46 edge in the rebounding department, and the teams registered nine steals apiece. The Bears slightly won the turnover battle, committing 15, while the visitors had 17.

Medgar Evers will look to build off the momentum of this big victory this weekend, as the Cougars will travel to the University of New England's Harold Alfond Forum to compete in the Jim Beaudry Classic. Medgar will play the Nor'Easters Saturday at 5:00pm, and will face either Eastern Connecticut or Wheaton in the consolation of championship game of the tournament that following day. Live stats and video links are available on the Cougars' schedule page on MECAthletics.com.
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