Despite trailing in the second half, the men's basketball team held on for a 70-67 win over York College on Friday night in Jamaica, NY. With the win, the Bloodhounds improve to 4-10 on the year and 3-5 in the CUNY Athletic Conference. The Cardinals drop to 1-14 overall and 1-7 in CUNYAC.
Junior
MiKing Richardson led John Jay with a game-high 21 points, shooting 7-for-13, a game-high nine rebounds, and a team-high three assists. Sophomore
Essien Epps recorded 20 points, eight rebounds, and a game-high three steals. Freshman
Wyatt Harkins added 12 points.
The first two minutes of the contest consisted of four lead changes. With the score tied at six apiece, York went on an 11-2 run to go up by nine. Two free throws by senior
Kiernan Hayes and a layup by Richardson cut the deficit to 17-12. Down by seven, Harkins and Epps scored the next five points to trail by two. The Cardinals followed with a layup but sophomore
Jerome Petty nailed a three and Epps and Richardson made jumpers to give John Jay a 24-21 advantage with 8:35 left in the half. The next six minutes went back-and-forth as both teams exchanged baskets. With the game tied 29-29, the hosts closed out the half on a 7-2 run to head into halftime leading 36-31.
Freshman
Doug Levy opened the second half with a layup but the Cardinals followed with six straight points to go up 42-33. Down by nine, Epps and Petty hit back-to-back three pointers to cut the deficit to three. A free throw by Harkins tied the score at 50 apiece with 12:30 on the clock. John Jay's first lead of the period came when Epps made a layup to put the Bloodhounds up by one. With 7:24 remaining and the score 58-58, Epps tallied five straight points. Down by four with 0:57 left, York went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 67-66. Late free throws and back-to-back defensive stands enabled the Bloodhounds to hold on for their fourth win in five games.
John Jay went 23-for-62 (37.1%) from the field, 8-for-22 (36.4%) from behind the arc, and 16-for-20 (80.0%) from the free throw line.
The Bloodhounds will host Alfred State tomorrow at 6:00 pm at the Doghouse.
