Brooklyn, NY (Jan. 17, 2017) – Red-hot men's basketball streaked to its fourth straight victory Tuesday night at St. Joseph's College-BKLYN.

The Panthers earned an 87-79 win to improve to 11-4 overall and 5-2 in Skyline Conference play. SJC-BKLYN is now 4-11 and 1-6.

Despite a season- and game-high 19 from Christian Giles, leading four in double figures, the Bears couldn't keep pace with the highest scoring team in the league at The Hill Center. 

A 13-3 Panther spurt in just under four minutes built a 16-point lead with six minutes to play, the largest separation of the game for either squad.

St. Joseph's came out of the gates and jumped out to a 7-0 lead. The visitors responded with eight straight points to take the lead and continued a 15-2 spurt, fueled by Michael Soffer (SO/Agoura, CA). His eight points built a 10-point lead. But Matt McQuillen's trey sparked nine straight points for the Bears in less than two minutes to pull back within one and they faced a 48-44 deficit at the intermission.

With the Bears trailing by six just past the midway point of the half, suddenly found themselves down 16 with six minutes left and Purchase holding all the momentum after a Tarik Allicock (JR/Brooklyn, NY) dunk and a Max Pearce (JR/Tuckahoe, NY) 3-pointer.

St. Joseph's responded with nine straight, but the closest they would get is five and Purchase maintained its separation shooting 5 of 6 from the charity stripe.

Giles led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting and also handed out a game-high seven assists. He was one basket shy of his career best but set a new high wearing a Bears jersey.

Entering as the league leader in rebounding and rebound margin, Purchase held a 51-37 edge on the boards – a key stat for the night.

Soffer led four Panthers in double figures with 18 points. Deshawn Cann (SO/Queens, NY) added 12, Pearce chipped in 11 and Brian Berrios (JR/New York, NY) contributed 10 to the balanced attack.

-SJC-BKLYN Sports Information Contributed to this report