Box Score The men's basketball team fell to Kean University, 80-73, on Tuesday night at the Doghouse. The Bloodhounds drop to 2-6 overall. The Cougars improve to 2-6 on the season. 

Hakeem Animashaun led John Jay in scoring with a team-high 21 points, on 7-of-10 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds. Junior Essien Epps recorded a season-high 19 points, eight rebounds, a season-high and game-high six steals, and five assists. Freshman Matt Hudzik came off the bench to score 12 points on four three-pointers. Sophomore Doug Levy finished with nine points and a game-high nine boards. Senior MiKing Richardson dished out a game-high seven assists to go along with three steals. Junior Luciano Cruz-Fernandez had nine points. 

The first three minutes consisted of four lead changes as John Jay led 5-4. With the Bloodhounds trailing by two, Epps drained a three to put John Jay ahead 10-9. Kean followed with 12 straight points to lead 21-10. Hudzik then made a three-pointer, Levy and Epps hit free-throws, and Animashaun made a layup to cut the deficit to three. With the visitors holding a 30-21 advantage, Hudzik knocked down back-to-back three's to trim the lead to three. Two free-throws by Epps with 0:49 left in the half tied the game at 32 apiece. A late free-throw by junior Jordan Aiken gave the Bloodhounds a 33-32 advantage heading into halftime. 

Kean opened the second with two straight three-pointers but a jumper by Cruz-Fernandez ended the run. Down by three, Levy connected on a three to tie the game, 40-40 with 16:27 left to go. Four minutes later, Animashaun made a jumper to give John Jay a one-point lead. The guests responded on a 7-2 run to go up 54-50. With 5:44 remaining, Kean increased its lead to 64-56. The Bloodhounds made a late comeback when Cruz-Fernandez hit a three and Levy made a layup to cut the deficit to five but late free-throws sealed the victory for the Cougars. 

John Jay went 25-for-57 (43.9%) from the floor, 8-for-25 (32.0%) from behind the arc, and 15-for-22 (68.2%) from the charity stripe. 

The Bloodhounds head into finals week and will return to play on Saturday, December 30, when they travel to Mount Aloysius College for a non-conference game at 1:00 pm.