The men's basketball team fell to New York University, 81-67, on Wednesday night at the Coles Sports Center in Manhattan, NY. The Bloodhounds drop to 0-6 on the season. The Violets improve to 5-0 overall.
Freshman
Essien Epps scored a game-high 30 points, shooting 12-for-21 from the field, with four rebounds, and two steals. Junior
Jesse Higgins recorded 10 points and three assists. Junior
Kiernan Hayes added a team-high nine rebounds, a team-high four assists, and a team-high two blocks. Senior
Calvin Ingram finished with eight points, four rebounds, and one steal.
Freshman
Jerome Petty opened the game with a three-pointer and a layup by Ingram increased John Jay's lead to 5-2. NYU then went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead, 9-5. Trailing 11-7, freshmen
Jordan Aiken and
Luciano Cruz-Fernandez drained back-to-back three-pointers to put the Bloodhounds ahead 13-11.
With 12:14 left in the first half and John Jay up one, the Violets recorded the next seven points to lead by six. Four minutes later, a layup by Higgins cut NYU's lead back down to 2. The Violets responded on an 11-2 run to open up the half, 34-23. Towards the end of the half, the Bloodhounds closed the gap and went into halftime trailing 36-28.
Ninety seconds into the second half, NYU increased the lead to 13. A layup by Ingram and a three-pointer from Epps cut the deficit back down to eight. With 13:32 left and John Jay down 50-41, Ingram made a jumper and Epps drained a shot from behind the arc to give NYU a 50-46 advantage.
Epps kept John Jay in the game as he registered the Bloodhounds' next nine points. With 5:10 remaining, Epps once again hit a three to cut the deficit to 65-60. The Violets ended the game on a 14-5 run to take the non-conference game by a final score of 81-67. Epps went 10-for-13 and 4-for-6 from behind the arc in the second half.
John Jay finished 27-for-72 (37.5%) from the field, 8-for-27 (29.6%) from behind the arc, and 5-for-8 (62.5%) from the free-throw line.
The Bloodhounds head into conference play when they travel to Brooklyn College on Friday, December 4, for a game at West Quad at 7:15 pm.
