By: Michael L. Damon
Box Score
Kings Point, N.Y.— Five players scored in double-figures, while collectively the team shot 51 percent from the floor as the John Jay men's basketball team earned its first win of the season as the Bloodhounds defeated the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) 71-63 on Monday evening.
John Jay, now 1-5 on the season, had double-digit scoring performances by Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY, Alfred E. Smith)(game-high 17), Miguel Garcia (New York, NY, St. Raymond's) (16 off the bench), Gary Gary Brady (Bronx, NY, Martin Luther King) (10), Godfrey Mascall (Brooklyn, NY, Paul Robeson) (10) and Chris Jaeger (Hicksville, NY, Hicksville) (10 off the bench) in the win.
After John Jay took a 2-0 lead to start the contest, and after the host Mariners connected on a three point field goal to go up 3-2, John Jay would take a lead it would not relinquish.
The Bloodhounds raced out on a 12-2 run to grab a 14-5 lead and dictate the pace. John Jay went 5-for-5 from the floor during the spurt, including two field goals by Brady and Mason as well as a triple by Mason, who was 2-for-4 from behind the arc.
But the Bloodhounds were not done. With John Jay leading by eight (20-12) with 11:4 to play, John Jay spurted out another run, an 11-0 spurt to take a 19 point lead (31-12) with just under six minutes remaining capped on a pair of free throws by Jaeger.
However the Mariners answered right back, keeping John Jay scoreless the rest of the way, while closing out the first half with their own 11-0 run to cut the lead back to eight as John Jay went into halftime up 31-23.
USMMA then scored the first two points of the second half to pull to within six (31-25), completing a 13-0 total run.
But a jumper by Brady, who shot 5-for-8 from the floor, with 1:25 gone by, ended the drought to put John Jay back up by eight.
USMMA got back to within six on the next possession, but the Bloodhounds used a 13-3 run to reestablish a nice cushion as they led 46-30 with 12:31 to play on a Brady lay-up. But USMMA went on another run to get back into the contest. They never grabbed a lead, but pulled to within five three times over the final seven plus minutes of the contest. They pulled to within five (48-43) to cap a 10-0 run with 7:14 to play.
John Jay would go back up and lead by as much as nine again, but USMMA pulled back to within five, twice more, most recently with two minutes to go on a lay-up by Ryan Samuel who had 12 points for the Mariners.
But John Jay, who was 17-for-23 from the free throw line, went 5-for-6 in the final minute to deny any Mariner comeback.
John Jay returns to action on Wed. Dec. 10 against Rutgers-Newark at 7 p.m.
