The men's basketball team lost to the College of Staten Island, 77-67, on Wednesday night in Staten Island. The Bloodhounds fall to 3-17 overall and 2-9 in the conference. The Dolphins improve to 14-5 on the year and 7-3 in CUNYAC.
Freshman
Luciano Cruz-Fernandez led John Jay in scoring with a team-high 17 points, shooting 5-for-8 from behind the arc. Junior
Kiernan Hayes picked up his second double-double of the season with 15 points, a team-high 11 rebounds, and a team-high two blocks. Freshman
Essien Epps recorded 16 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Junior
Geno Ware swiped a game-high four steals. Senior
Calvin Ingram and junior
Jesse Higgins combined for nine rebounds and six assists.
The Dolphins scored the first 14 points of the game but five minutes later, the Bloodhounds cut the deficit to 16-8 with 10:42 left in the first half. Trailing by nine, John Jay went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 21-16. Staten Island went into halftime with a 36-27 advantage.
The Bloodhounds recorded six straight points to open the second half to trail by three. The hosts quickly increased its lead back up to eight but John Jay responded with back-to-back baskets to trail by four with 13:43 left in the game.
With CSI leading 47-41, Epps and sophomore
Gabriel Torikashvili hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 47 apiece. John Jay took its first lead of the contest, 49-48 on two free-throws by Hayes with 9:33 on the clock. The Dolphins went on a 5-0 run to regain the lead but once again, John Jay stormed back to take a one-point lead on a three-pointer by Cruz-Fernandez with just over seven minutes remaining.
With Staten Island up by one, the Dolphins broke open the game on a 10-0 run to lead 67-56 with 2:14 on the clock. CSI would go on to win by a final score of 77-67.
John Jay went 22-for-58 (37.9%) from the floor, 10-for-18 (55.6%) from behind the arc, and 13-for-19 (68.4%) from the charity stripe.
The Bloodhounds return home on Friday, January 29, for a conference game against Hunter College at 8:00 pm at the Doghouse.
