New York, N.Y. --- The John Jay men’s basketball team led most of the way in winning its fourth in its last five as the Bloodhounds defeated Medgar Evers College, 58-53, in a contest at the Doghouse on Friday evening. John Jay is now 7-9 (3-3 CUNYAC), while Medgar Evers is now 1-15 (0-6 CUNYAC).
The visiting Cougars led in the initial stages and led by as much as four (6-2) very early in the contest.
But John Jay erased that quickly with a 12-0 run to take a 14-6 lead and lead for good. Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY / Alfred E. Smith), who had a game-high 18 points, drilled a jumper to cap the run giving John Jay a 14-6 midway though the first half.
Medgar Evers never got to within less then six points of the lead, and the Bloodhounds, leading by six (22-16) with 4:11 to play, closed out the half on a 10-2 run to take a 32-18 lead just before halftime. Mason canned a pair of triples during the run, including one with five seconds remaining, to give the Bloodhounds their biggest lead of the half, a 14 point cushion (32-18).
The Bloodhounds led by double figures in the second half much of the way. John Jay still had a comfortable lead, and led by their biggest margin of the night, 18 points, when Miguel Garcia (New York, NY / St. Raymond’s) knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to make the score 47-29 with just under twelve minutes remaining.
But the Cougars chipped away at the lead and made a game of it late. Medgar Evers outscored the Bloodhounds 24-5 over the final twelve minutes.
Despite being outscored late in the contest, John Jay still led by double-digits with less than two minutes to go. The Bloodhounds led by 10 (56-46) with 1:18 to play. The Cougars connected on one for two from the free throw line to narrow the lead to 10.
A three point field goal by Kallai Sharpe (Brooklyn, NY / Morrow) with forty-two seconds remaining cut the Bloodhound lead to seven (56-49). After a turnover by the Bloodhounds on the inbounds pass, the Cougars scored off the turnover as Medgar Evers’ Darnell Cudjoe (Brooklyn, NY / Murray Bergtraum) connected on a lay-up with sixteen seconds left to cut the lead to five.
John Jay then missed on a pair from the line. And Cudjoe scored on another lay-up with under five seconds to make it a one possession game at 56-53.
But clutch foul shooting by William Smallwood (Bronx, NY / Cardinal Hayes) in the closing seconds gave the Bloodhounds a two possession lead to put the game out of reach.
John Jay returns to action on Wed. Jan. 16 on the road against New York City Tech at 7 p.m.
