By: Michael L. Damon
mdamon@jjay.cuny.edu
(212) 237-8322
Box Score
NEW YORK, N.Y.— The John Jay men's basketball team played inspired and determined for forty minutes and earned the win in the end as the Bloodhounds defeated Gwynedd-Mercy College 70-68 in the opening round of the NYU Tip-off tournament on Saturday.
The Bloodhounds were led by
Jamar Harry and
Isaiah Holman with 26 points each. Harry added 16 rebounds in the victory, while Holman drained seven three point field goals.
With the win, John Jay advances to the championship game and will face New York University (NYU) Sunday at 3 p.m., while Gwynedd-Mercy will face SUNY Geneseo in the consolation game at 1 p.m. NYU beat SUNY Geneseo 84-74 in the other game on Saturday.
John Jay's incredible hustle, scrappy play and overwhelming desire, added with hot shooting early, gave the Bloodhounds the early advantage in the game. The Bloodhounds led most of the first half and were up as much as nine in the opening stanza, and John Jay led 18-9 with five and a half minutes gone by.
But Gwynedd-Mercy answered with a 13-1 run to take a 22-19 lead midway through the first half.
The two schools remained within a few points of each other before going into halftime tied at 32.
John Jay opened the half scoring the first five points. The Bloodhounds kept the five point lead and led 43-38 with 3:06 gone by before the Griffins answered with its own run of 14-0 to take a 52-43 lead with 13:12 to go. The run was capped by the game's only dunk by Justin Knight (10 pts).
But the Bloodhounds immediately answered, outscoring Gwynedd-Mercy 19-5 over the next five minutes to take a 62-57 lead. John Jay shot 7-for-8 from the field during the stretch. Holman connected on four three point field goals during that span, while Korade Griffith (5 pts) added a three pointer as well during the spurt.
John Jay never trailed again in the contest after that point. The Griffins tied the score at 66-66 with 2:01 to play. But a pair of clutch field goals by Harry down the stretch iced the game. A jumper from just inside the top of the key with 1:38 to play gave John Jay a 68-66 lead, then Harry's lay-up with ten seconds to go put the Bloodhounds up by four en route to securing the win.
Harry played all forty minutes and connected on 11-of-19 field goal attempts and had four assists and four steals. Holman was 8-for-13 from the field and 7-for-10 from behind the arc.
Gwynedd-Mercy shot 52 percent from the floor (26-for-50) and had 19 points from Frank Champion, while Brendan Stanton had 11 points.
