Men's Basketball Drops Season Opener to CCNY

Written by Justin Miller

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team lost its first game of the 2021-22 season to the CCNY Beavers, 67-60, inside the Danzi Center on Saturday night.

It was a tight-knit affair that featured five ties and five lead changes throughout. 

Sophomore center Spencer Malloy led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 16 points on top of eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Ryan McNeely was the only other Golden Eagle in double digits with 12 points, all of which were from three. 

The Golden Eagles led by as many as five points early in the first half of the game. However, strong first half performances by CCNY's Dashaun Galloway and Yassine Sakhi helped give the Beavers a first half lead. This included a buzzer-beating two point shot by Sakhi to put the Golden Eagles down five at the half.

SJC battled back in the second half, starting off on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 32-32. At 15:13, Jake Gaudiello hit a three-point shot that gave the Golden Eagles their first and only lead of the second half at 35-34.

The hosts kept it close throughout, but were unable to grow that early one-point lead. A late 9-0 run from CCNY ultimately proved to be enough to secure them a 67-60 win against the Golden Eagles. 

St. Joseph's shot 37.7% from the field and 26.1% from three but only 61.5% from the charity stripe. CCNY boasted a 37.1% field-goal percentage and outrebounded SJC 45-43.

The Golden Eagles next game will be on Wednesday, November 10, at home against York College at 7:30 PM.