The men's basketball team recorded their first win of the 2016-17 season after defeating Sarah Lawrence College, 66-60, on Monday afternoon at the Doghouse. The Bloodhounds improve to 1-9 on the season. The Gryphons drop to 4-5.
Sophomore
Essien Epps registered a career-high 31 points, shooting 12-for-17 from the field, with a team-high nine rebounds, and a game-high six steals. Freshman
Wyatt Harkins finished with 13 points, going 3-for-6 from behind the arc, five boards, three assists, and two steals. Freshman
Tyrone Dennis added nine points, four rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Senior
Geno Ware came off the bench to contribute five points and five rebounds and junior
MiKing Richardson swiped three steals.
Harkins opened up the scoring for the Bloodhounds with a three-pointer but Sarah Lawrence scored three straight points to lead 9-6 with 16:12 left in the first half. John Jay quickly responded on a 13-0 run to take a 19-9 advantage. Two minutes later, the visitors cut the deficit to six with 6:48 remaining. Epps ended the half scoring six of the Bloodhounds' final nine points to give John Jay a 30-25 lead heading into halftime.
The Gryphons cut the lead down to two to open the second half but Epps made back-to-back layups to increase the lead back up to six. Epps then scored John Jay's next six points as the Bloodhounds were up 40-38. Sarah Lawrence consistently responded but Dennis and Harkins hit back-to-back three-pointers with 12:03 left in the game. Five minutes later, the Gryphons trimmed the lead down to 51-48 but the Bloodhounds went on a 9-0 run to break open the game, 60-48. Down by 11 with 1:05 on the clock, Sarah Lawrence scored seven points in thirty-three seconds to trail by four with 0:33 remaining. Two successful free-throws by Epps sealed the victory for John Jay.
John Jay finished 24-for-52 (46.2%) from the field, 6-for-14 (42.9%) from behind the arc, and 12-for-20 (60.0%) from the free-throw line. John Jay recorded 32 points in the paint and 26 points off turnovers.
The Bloodhounds travel to City College (CCNY) on Wednesday, January 4, for a conference game at 7:00 pm.
