WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – February 11, 2023 – The Dean College men's basketball team fell at No. 1 University of Saint Joseph (USJ), 87-60, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest Saturday afternoon.
The Blue Jays, who received 15 of the 25 possible first-place votes this week in the D3hoops.com national poll, remain the final unbeaten men's team in Division III.
Dean (14-9, 9-7 GNAC) travels to Lasell on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. tip. USJ (24-0, 17-0 GNAC) wraps up the regular season on Tuesday at Johnson & Wales.
Junior
Malik Spearman (St. Paul, Minn.) recorded his eighth double-double of the season to lead Dean with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Senior
Jagan Daughters (College Station, Texas) scored a season best 10 points, while senior
Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) finished with nine points, six rebounds and a couple of steals.
Senior Jalen Samuels (Franklin, Mass.) led USJ with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Graduate student Jake Sullivan (Branford, Conn.) tallied 11 points and five rebounds, while graduate student Ryan O'Neill (Litchfield, Conn.) was the third Blue Jay to reach double figures with 10 points. Graduate student Alec Kinder (West Haven, Conn.) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and senior Jaecee Martin (Hartford, Conn.) came away with seven assists.
The first nine minutes of action was played within a couple of possessions. USJ, leading 18-12, then went on an 11-0 spurt to create separation with 7:36 left in the half. The Bulldogs later trailed by 20 before a mini 5-0 run. The Blue Jays scored four points in the final 32 seconds of the frame to take a 39-20 lead at the break.
A Sullivan trey to open the second for USJ, but the home team on top by 22 and they never looked back. The Bulldogs responded with a Blair free throw and a Spearman layup to cut the deficit back to 19, but that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the contest.
USJ shot 51.6% from the floor and 40.9% from beyond the arch, while holding Dean to 32.2% from the field and 33.3% from long range. The Blue Jays outrebounded the Bulldogs 39-34.
