The Saint Elizabeth University men's basketball team earned its first win of the season tonight against the Bears of St Joseph's University Brooklyn. The Eagles improve to 1-2 while the Bears drop to 0-2.


The Eagles possessed the advantage from the opening tip, failing to relinquish it over the course of the 40 minutes. A 10-point run saw the hosts hold an 18-point lead with 5:07 remaining in the first half, 32-14. However, the Bears trimmed the deficit to eight before entering the half down 36-26. In the second half, the Eagles' quick offensive attack was on full display, opening up a 49-32 lead forcing a Bears timeout. Following the timeout at 15:56 in the second half, the Bears outscored the Eagles 12-4 over the next five minutes to shrink the gap to nine points, 53-44. The Eagles turned up the heat again over the next ten minutes to grow their lead to as many as 22 points with about 5 minutes left. 


Pierre Harden led the Eagles with 23 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Jonathan Ramos hit two three pointers on his way to a 12 point, 8 rebound performance. Nasir Owens and D'Angelo Blackmond scored 11 and 10 points respectively. The Eagles were successful with inside shots scoring 36 points in the paint. The defense was also a big factor in the win as they held the Bears to only 35% shooting from the field.


The Eagles travel to Doylestown, PA for their next game against Delaware Valley University on Saturday November 18 at 5pm. Delaware Valley head coach Muhamadou Kaba is the older brother of current Eagles player Malamin Kaba.