No. 1 Men's Hoops Holds Off Johnson & Wales Tuesday Night, 67-55

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Despite their worst shooting night through 11 games so far this season, the nationally-ranked No. 1 University of Saint Joseph (USJ) Blue Jays opened the New Year by never trailing in a 67-55 victory over the Johnson & Wales University (JWU) Wildcats in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball action Tuesday night inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in West Hartford, Conn. With the victory, the Blue Jays remained undefeated on the season and improved to 11-0 overall and 4-0 in GNAC play, while the Wildcats dropped to 3-5 and 1-3 with the loss.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: #1 Saint Joseph 67, Johnson & Wales 55
Records: #1 USJ (10-0, 4-0 GNAC), JWU (3-5, 1-3 GNAC)
Location: James A. Calhoun Gymnasium (West Hartford, Conn.)

HOW IT HAPPENED

It was a story of two halves in this one as the Blue Jays dominated the opening 20 minutes of play, but struggled to find the bottom of the net in the second stanza and were forced to hold off a late charge by the Wildcats in order to claim their 11th straight victory to start the 2022-23 season and 22nd consecutive home triumph.

USJ opened the contest red-hot with points on its first three possessions, including back-to-back pull-up jumpers from senior point guard Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.), to make it 5-0 Blue Jays in the opening minutes of action. After trading points, Saint Joseph doubled its advantage to 10 (14-4) with 13:26 to go on the first-half timer following the first made three-pointer of the game by freshman guard Lence Altenor (Everett, Mass.) and a layup by graduate student forward Alec Kinder (West Haven, Conn.).

Back-to-back scores by the Wildcats halted USJ's run and trimmed their deficit to six (14-8) with 12:22 to play in the first half, but that would be as close as JWU would get for the remainder of the opening period. The Blue Jays responded with a 6-0 spurt, fueled by a trio of free throws from senior guard Delshawn Jackson Jr. (Hartford, Conn.), to catapult back out to a 12-point lead, 20-8, halfway through the first frame.

The score would see-saw back and forth until Saint Joseph rattled off one last big run to close the first half. Leading 28-17, Altenor drained his second three-pointer of the half to spark the run and graduate student forward Jake Sullivan (Branford, Conn.) netted the final four points of a 9-3 burst to close the period, including a second-chance put-back as time expired, to give the Blue Jays a 37-20 lead at the break.

JWU's Josh Zangerle (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) opened the second-half scoring with a triple which ignited a huge 16-4 run to cut the Wildcats' deficit to just five points, 41-36, with 14:09 left to play in regulation. Zangerle, Jontai Williams (Bronx, N.Y.) and Aireus Raspberry (Cranston, R.I.) all connected from distance during the run, while the Blue Jays started the second stanza just 2-of-9 shooting from the floor.

USJ weathered the storm and the duo of freshman guard Malcolm Eley (Bronx, N.Y.) and graduate student Alec Kinder (West Haven, Conn.) combined to score the ensuing 10 points for the Blue Jays to build back an 11-point lead, 51-40, with eight minutes remaining in regulation.

The Wildcats wouldn't go down quietly though, and Raspberry, who scored all of his game-high 14 points in the second half, converted a layup to pull the visitors back within eight (55-47) with four minutes on the clock. Following the under-four media timeout, the Blue Jays dug in and held off the charging Wildcats by converting from the free-throw line. Four-of-five made freebies by Jackson Jr. pushed the USJ lead back to 12 (59-47) and Saint Joseph would go on to connect on 10-of-13 from the charity stripe over the final 3:45 to ice the game and seal a 67-55 triumph.

Three players finished in double figures for the Blue Jays, led by Jackson Jr. who scored a team-high 12 points. The freshman duo of Altenor and Eley both registered career-highs in the victory with 10 points apiece. Kinder and senior forward Jaeln Samuels (Franklin, Mass.) each pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds.

Raspberry was JWU's and the game's leading scorer with 14 points, while Bryan Davis (Miramar, Fla.) also finished in double figures for the Wildcats with 13. The aforementioned duo also paced the visitors on the glass with nine caroms apiece.

The Blue Jays shot 41.4% (12-29) in the first half, but just 26.7% (8-30) in the second half for an overall season-low 33.9% (20-59) shooting for the game. However, they still out-shot their opponents, holding the Wildcats to 21.6% (8-37) in the first half and 45.2% (14-31) in the second half for an overall shooting percentage of 32.4% (22-68).

JWU won the battle on the glass as a team, 48-43, but committed 19 turnovers to just 11 for USJ.

UP NEXT

Men's basketball has a quick turnaround and returns right back to the hardwood on Thursday, January 5 for another GNAC contest at home versus the Lasell University Lasers. Tipoff between the Blue Jays and Lasers is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in West Hartford, Conn. Tickets to attend Thursday night's game can be purchased by visiting www.usjbluejays.com/tickets. Fans who cannot make it to West Hartford can watch all of the action live by visiting https://portal.stretchinternet.com/usj/.