Box Score Salisbury, Md.— The John Jay men's basketball team was defeated by Medgar Evers College, 67-59 in the championship game of the 2011 Optimist Classic at Salisbury University.
 
With the loss, John Jay falls to 4-3 overall this season. Medgar Evers is now 5-3 on the season.
 
The Bloodhounds were led by Jerome Alexander with 19 points, while Kevin Philius was second highest on the team with 10 in the loss.
 
Megar Evers had three players reach double-doubles and was led by Jovan Deare with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while tournament Most Valuable Player Winston Douglas had 17 points and 11 boards. Fellow teammate Jarrel Deare had 10 points and 14 rebounds.
 
John Jay led briefly early in the contest, but otherwise, Medgar Evers dominated throughout. The  Bloodhounds were limited to a season-low 16 points in the first half and were down 33-16 at halftime.
 
Medgar Evers took their biggest lead of the game early in the second half and were ahead by 19 (42-23) with 16:01 to play.
 
But the Bloodhounds never quit and fought back and made a game of it. After falling behind 42-23, John Jay responded with a 20-4 run to pull to within three and suddenly John Jay was down 46-43 with 7:41 to play. A continuation three point play by Oshea Alexander capped the run.
 
But the Cougars responded with a 6-0 spurt to go back up by nine.
 
Medgar Evers eventually led by as much as 12 and was up 60-48 with 2:07 to play to deny any Bloodhound comeback en route to the win.
 
After showing the hot hand in the win over Salisbury, the Bloodhounds went 180 degrees in the opposite direction. They shot a season low 25 percent (17-for-68) in the contest, including 17.9 percent (5-for-28) in the first half.
 
John Jay shot exceptionally well at the free throw line going 22-for-23, good for 95.7 percent.
 
John Jay returns to action on Tuesday December 6 for a home game against Vaughn College at 6 p.m. 

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