New York, N.Y.— The John Jay men’s basketball team defeated Hunter College 61-59 at the Doghouse on Wednesday evening to improve to 7-17 (6-6 CUNYAC) on the season. Hunter is now 12-11 (6-6 CUNYAC).
John Jay was led in scoring by
Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY/ Alfred E Smith) with 18 points, while
Alex Valerio (Flushing, NY/ Francis Lewis) chipped in with 16 (on 8-for-11 shooting) and a team-high eight rebounds in the win.
Godfrey Mascall (Brooklyn, NY/ Paul Roberson) dished out a game-high eight assists for John Jay.
In what was a tight game the whole way with neither team leading by more than six, the Bloodhounds used a late-game surge to earn the victory.
John Jay was down by three (57-54) with 5:37 remaining before using a 7-0 run to take a 61-57 lead with 3:07 to play.
A Valerio lay-up cut the margin to one. Mason connected on a trey during the next possession to gave the Bloodhounds the lead for good at the 4:10 mark.
Kelvin Luna (Corona, NY/ Flushing), who had 11 points in the contest, connected on two free-throws with 3:07 to play to give John Jay a 61-57 lead
The Bloodhounds would fail to score again in the contest, but Hunter would connect on only one of their final four shots of the contest as John Jay held on.
Hunter’s Chris Garrick (Brooklyn, NY/ Sheepshead Bay) connected on a lay-up with 44 seconds to go to cut the Bloodhound lead in half (61-59).
A John Jay turnover with 27 seconds remaining gave Hunter a chance on their next possession. But Hunter’s Akeem Adams (Bronx, NY/ St. Raymond’s) wide open three from the left wing with 12 seconds remaining fell short.
After a series of fouls by Hunter’s Chris Holder (Valley Stream, NY/ Valley Stream), who committed three fouls in two seconds, Mascall missed the front end of a one and one free throw to give Hunter one final chance.
With no timeouts remaining a final three point attempt by Maka Thomas (Rochdale, NY/ Martin Van Buren) at the buzzer came up empty as John Jay earned a split against Hunter in the 2006-07 regular season.
John Jay will return to action on Fri. Feb. 9 against the College of Staten Island for their 2006-07 regular season finale, 7 p.m. at the Doghouse.
