Warriors Fall to St. Joseph’s College in HVIAC Championship Game
The Warriors had a phenomenal season in the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (HVIAC) this season, highlighted by making it to the finals on February 16 at the College of New Rochelle’s Wellness Center. To claim the HVIAC championship trophy, they needed to beat a tough and talented St. Joseph’s College Bears team, undefeated in conference play this season, and previous winners of the 2010 conference championship against Vaughn.
Vaughn College put on an impressive performance but was ultimately defeated by St. Joseph’s College by a final score of 92-76. The Warriors finish the season with an overall 14-11 record and 5-2 in the HVIAC.
The Warriors struggled to score in the first half, shooting less than 30 percent from the field and 50 percent from the foul line. At half time, the Warriors trailed St. Joseph’s College 27-49. All season long the Warriors showed the uncanny ability to erase big leads from their opponents. There was no quit in the Warriors as they clawed their way back in the game. Led by senior captain guard Jared Ndiba’s ‘16 22 points, the Warriors would cut the lead to 14 points with just over four minutes left to play in the game.
St. Joseph’s College never let the Warriors come within 10 points of the lead and the team was unable to pull off another come from behind victory, something they did in the semi-finals game against Berkeley College just the day before.
Ron Wyatt ‘16 and Eric McDonald ’16 scored 12 points apiece for the Warriors and Maleec Taylor ‘15 scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, swiped four steals, and dished out four assists for the Warriors.
Jared Nbida shooting from the field (left); Moises Chaucer going for a layup.