The men's basketball team fought back despite trailing at halftime to upset Baruch College, 74-60, on Monday night at the Doghouse. The Bloodhounds improve to 2-10 overall and 1-5 in CUNYAC. The Bearcats fall to 10-4 and 4-2 in the conference.

"I'm so proud of our effort," head coach Ryan Hyland said. "We could have let that game slip away towards the end of the first half - but we battled back, regrouped at halftime and came out swinging."

Freshman Wyatt Harkins led John Jay with a game-high 22 points, shooting 5-for-7 from the field and 9-for-11 from the free throw line. Sophomore Essien Epps recorded 17 points, on 7-of-11 shooting, five rebounds, and a team-high three steals. Freshman Doug Levy picked up his third double-double of the season with 12 points, a team-high 10 boards, and a block. Senior Geno Ware and junior MiKing Richardson combined for 21 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. 

Epps and Richardson scored the first two baskets for the Bloodhounds as Baruch led 5-4. John Jay followed on a 10-0 run that started with back-to-back three's by Epps and Harkins. With 12:48 left in the half and John Jay up by nine, the Bearcats scored 13 unanswered points to take a 20-16 advantage. A free-throw by Ware tied the game at 21 apiece with 3:36 remaining. Baruch then went on an 8-0 run but the Bloodhounds cut the deficit to 31-27 heading into halftime. 

Levy opened the second period with a layup and a jumper to trim the deficit to one. The Bloodhounds took their first lead of the half when Richardson converted a three-point play to put John Jay up 38-36 with 15:42 on the clock. With the Bloodhounds up by one, John Jay went on a 7-0 run but Baruch fought back to trail by four. The Bloodhounds broke open the game with seven minutes left when John Jay went on a 10-0 run, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers by Harkins and Ware. Late free-throws sealed the conference victory for the Bloodhounds. 

"We had a great couple of practices coming into tonight's game," added Hyland. "Our staff did a tremendous job preparing the scout team and our guys executed. Our defense was the key."

John Jay finished 25-for-48 (52.1%) from the field, 6-for-12 (50.0%) from behind the arc, and 18-for-23 (78.3%) from the free throw line. 

The Bloodhounds head to Brooklyn on Wednesday, January 11, to take on Medgar Evers College for a conference game at 8:00 pm. 

"John (Alesi) has a great team over there, I was proud that we looked like we belonged on that court with them tonight," said Hyland. "Hopefully it's a spark we need heading into a brutal four-game week."