Bethlehem, Pa.— The John Jay men’s basketball team made history on Thursday night as the squad recorded the first NCAA win in tournament history in any sport for John Jay as the Bloodhounds defeated Moravian College, 80-74, in the opening round of the 2008 NCAA Division III tournament.

 

John Jay, now 14-15, advances into Saturday’s second round match against top ranked, and defending national champion, Amherst College, on Sat. Mar. 8 at 7 p.m.

 

The Bloodhounds went toe to toe with the host Greyhounds from the outset. Moravian took the initial lead scoring the first four points of the contest to get the early advantage.

 

But the Bloodhounds came rolling back and took a 7-6 lead, capping off a 7-2 run. Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY / Alfred E. Smith) drilled a three point field goal to give the Bloodhounds their first lead of the night at that moment. Earlier in the run Mason came through the lane on a put back monster dunk to tie the game at four with 15:39 to play.

 

Both teams went back and fourth the remainder of the first half with neither team leading by more than four through the first 20 minutes of basketball.

 

"After looking at the video, we felt like we had some quickness and depth at the point guard position that we could exploit. We also felt that we could attack them off the dribble and give them some problems, and we were able to do that," said John Jay head coach Charles Jackson. "We knew coming in that (Moravian) was a great shooting team, and that we would have to keep their top players to reasonable numbers. We were able to execute at the end; we got some baskets and finished the game out."

 

John Jay led by as much as three in the first half, and led by that margin with 13:36 to go on a lay-up by Emilio Gomez (Moca, Dominican Republic / William Taft) who scored five points on the evening.

 

The first half saw seven ties, most recent at the 1:47 mark to make the score 33-33 before John Jay went into halftime leading 35-33.

 

Godfrey Mascall (Brooklyn, NY / Paul Robeson) led a surge off the bench for the Bloodhounds leading John Jay with eight points in the first half on 4-for-4 shooting. For the game Mascall had 12 points, five rebounds, as well as game-highs of four steals and nine assists.

 

The Greyhounds then took control in the initial stages of the second stanza. Moravian scored the first four points of the second half to take a 37-35 lead at the 19:02 mark of the second half.

 

Moravian led for much of the early stages in half number two and led by as much as six. The Greyhounds led 53-47 at the 12:31 mark of second half capping a 14-6 run over the first 7 1/2 minutes of the period.

 

The Greyhounds still led by six (59-53) with 10:21 to play before John Jay mounted a furious run to take the lead and control of the game.

 

The Bloodhounds went on a 13-0 run to take a 66-59 lead with 5:57 to go, capped on a lay-up by Alex Valerio (Flushing, NY / Francis Lewis) who led John Jay with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting.

 

"We believed, the coaches believed, and the fans believed," said Valerio."Sometimes, that's all you need is to believe in each other. We are taking this one game at a time."

 

The Bloodhounds maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way and Moravian never got to within more than four points of  the lead in the closing minutes. John Jay connected on six of its final nine free throws to keep an arms length distance ahead of Moravian and go on to victory.

 

"It is one of the greatest feelings in the world – you feel like you have accomplished something. The conference title: it was like we were working on a four-year mid-term paper; now, we are working on the final exam – the NCAA tournament. We'll see how it turns out," said senior forward  Hakeem Kased, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds on the evening.