The Dean College Bulldogs fell to the top-seeded St. Joseph Blue Jays 108-77 on Tuesday evening in front of a pumped-up Pieri Gym crowd.
The Bulldogs started the game off with a couple of fading mid-range jump shots from point guard AJ Weston to get them on the board. However, even with the impressive offensive start for the Bulldogs, Blue Jays forward Tyree Mitchell answered and cracked through the Bulldogs defense. Mitchell dropped in a couple of early three balls and a combined measure of inside scoring to gain the slight edge over Dean five minutes in.
The Bulldogs would switch from their modified 2-3 zone to a man scheme that resulted in a couple of helpful stops to bring them within four with nine minutes remaining in the first half. Even with help from Dean's powerful inside-the-arch threat Paris Smith racking on several impressive drop step finishes, and outside support from guard Charles Walker, Dean ultimately fell short in the first half. Some members of the Bulldogs starting five were forced to sit due to foul trouble and costly technical fouls in the first half as the Bulldogs entered the locker room down 48-38.
With a bright second half ahead of them the Bulldogs came out looking ready to go as Coach Cabral was seen hyping up his guys during their halftime warmups. Just like the first half, Dean's game plan appeared to be to get the ball in the hands of AJ Weston who would again hit another jump shot to get the Bulldog fans on their feet. Even with the energetic start from the Bulldogs, it looked to be no match against the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays managed the clock and looked for easy openings when they could get them by sending several pick-and-rolls and off-ball screens. This allowed their players to back cut and get down to the short corner giving the Blue Jays easy baskets.
With the time running out, the Bulldogs were looking for rotational help from forward Harlan Nichols. Nichols took most of the minutes in place of Paris Smith, who fouled out late in the second half due to a couple of controversial calls from the officials. Even with a spirited crowd and a fired-up Coach Cabral, the Dean Bulldogs would ultimately run out of time and drop their conference matchup 108-77 to the St. Joseph Blue Jays.
Even with the loss there were some notable performers. AJ Weston finished with a team-high 19 points while shooting an outstanding 85.7% from the line. Some other notable performers include guard Jayden Madise, who snagged a team-high 14 rebounds and fell just short of a double-double with nine points. Charles Walker finished with 13 points while shooting 60% from behind the arch, and guard Moussa Berete played a gutsy 37-minute performance filled with tons of defensive help and a handful of dished out passes resulting in Dean College points.
On what the Bulldogs could do to improve in their next game, Senior Jayden Madise stated, “Next game probably got to work on our man-to-man defense and getting back in transition because today we didn’t really get back in transition all that well and cover the three-ball a lot more."
Dean drops to (6-15) overall and (2-8) in the GNAC conference as they carry on a seven-game losing streak. The Dean College Bulldogs will be back in action on February 7th, as they are taking a trip to New London, Connecticut in hopes of breaking their losing streak against Mitchell in a conference matchup. St. Josephs improves to (16-4) overall and (9-0) in conference play. The Blue Jays' next stop will be back at home in a top-seeded matchup between Albertus Magnus on February 3rd.