New York, NY – Despite turning the ball over a season low six times, the John Jay men’s basketball team lost on the road in a conference battle as the Bloodhounds were defeated by Baruch College, 78-71, at Baruch’s ARC Arena on Wednesday evening. The Bloodhounds now stand at 8-12 (4-5 CUNYAC) on the season.
John Jay was paced by three players in double figures as Hakeem Kased (Brooklyn, NY / Franklin D. Roosevelt) led the Bloodhounds with game-high’s 15 points and 11 rebounds. Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY / Alfred E. Smith) added 14 points, while Godfrey Mascall (Brooklyn, NY / Paul Robeson), in his 2007-08 debut, came off the bench and scored 13.
The host Bearcats took the lead from the outset. They opened the game on an 8-2 run to take a six point lead in the initial stages and maintained a comfortable lead for much of the first half.
The Bloodhounds stayed within striking range, and down by eight (23-15) at the 8:51 point of the half, they used a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to two (23-21) with 6:52 remaining on a jumper by Alex Valerio (Flushing, NY / Francis Lewis).
Baruch however answered with a run of its own, an 8-0 spurt, to go up 31-21. The Bearcats and Bloodhounds traded baskets the remainder of the first half before Baruch went into halftime holding its biggest lead of the first half, 11 points at 40-29.
John Jay stayed within a good distance of the lead, but never got to within three points of the lead.
Numerous times the Bloodhounds got to within three or four points of the lead, but never closer as Baruch answered each time
After falling behind by 12 early in the second half at 43-31, the Bloodhounds gathered momentum and made it a one possession game. John Jay trailed by three at 47-44 with 12:45 to play on a jumper by Kased.
The Bearcats went back up by eight (52-44) with 11:30 to play. John Jay cut the deficit to three again with a 5-0 run capped by a Mascall jumper with 9:47 to go.
Baruch would go back up by eight moments later before John Jay took another run and cut the margin to four. John Jay cut the deficit to four on four separate occasions during the middle portion of the second half, but Baruch answered each time.
The Bloodhounds then got the deficit to within three again with 3:13 to go on a pair of free throws by Mascall which made the score 70-67. But Baruch made one final run and used an 8-0 spurt to take a 78-67 lead with twenty-seven seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.
John Jay outscored Baruch 32-22 on points in the paint and capitalized on turnovers outscoring the Bearcats 15-4 in that department. The Bloodhounds also had a 17-10 advantage in second chance points.
John Jay returns to action on Fri. Jan. 25 for a home contest against CCNY at 7 p.m.
