Men’s Basketball Topped by York in Season Opener

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team took a 64-48 defeat to York College in its season-opening contest inside the Danzi Center on Thursday evening.

The loss ensures the Golden Eagles start their 2018-19 campaign with a 0-1 record as the Cardinals improve to 3-0.

Senior Mike Harris scored a career- and game-best 18 points on 6-for-16 shooting from the field. The guard shot 3-for-5 from three and dished out a pair of assists.

Freshman Matthew Hirdt (4-for-8 FG) scored 13 points in his collegiate debut, and junior Frank Basile went for seven points and a team-best eight rebounds.

Taishaun Forehand-Jenkins paced the Cardinals with 17 points on 8-for-13 shooting.

A back-and-forth first half yielded a 22-20 scoreline in favor of the hosts with 3:58 to play before the break, but York captured nine of the half's final 12 points and took a 29-25 lead into halftime.

A hot start in the second saw the guests go up 14 points (45-31) with 11:14 to play in regulation, but despite coming as close as 11 points (51-40), SJC succumbed to a 64-48 defeat at the final buzzer.

Though St. Joseph's was outshot 45.3% to 32.7% from the field, the Golden Eagles were the better shooting side from three (28.6%-23.1%).

York was the better team on the boards (45-29), in the paint (40-20) and off the bench (20-13).

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, November 17 when they host John Jay College for a non-conference contest at 1:00 pm.