The men's basketball team cruised to a 68-47 victory against St. Joseph's College Long Island (SJCLI) on Saturday afternoon in Patchogue, NY. The Bloodhounds improve to 2-0. The Golden Eagles drop to 0-2. 

"Today was another opportunity for our guys to show everyone what we've been up to in practice," head coach Ryan Hyland said. "It's great for them to see the results of their hard work translate into wins."

Senior Jerome Petty led the Bloodhounds with a team-high 15 points, on 6-of-7 shooting. Junior Doug Levy finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and a team-high nine boards. Senior Essien Epps recorded 14 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Kyle LaGuardia grabbed eight boards and sophomore Romello Ford dished out a game-high four assists. Freshman Santiago Collado came off the bench to add seven points. 

Levy opened the game sinking a three and Epps followed with five straight points to give John Jay an early 8-0 lead. The hosts cut the deficit down to four but back-to-back baskets by Epps and Collado increased the advantage back up to eight with 12:22 left in the opening half. 

After a three-pointer by SJCLI, the Bloodhounds responded on a 13-0 run to break open the half and lead 31-13. A layup by freshman Connor Braat gave John Jay a 40-16 at halftime. 

The Bloodhounds' defense held the Golden Eagles to shooting 26% in the first half. Epps led all scorers with 12 points. 

After two free-throws by LaGuardia put John Jay ahead 45-20, Petty scored John Jay's next seven points to put them up by 30.

SJCLI followed with nine straight points before Levy made a free-throw. The Bloodhounds broke open the game on a 13-0 run and cruised to their second win of the season. 

The Bloodhounds finished 26-for-56 (46.4%) from the floor, 6-for-18 (33.3%) from behind the arc, and 10-for-16 (62.5%) from the charity stripe. 

John Jay is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since the 2011-12 season. In addition, this is the first time the team recorded back-to-back 20+ point victories since 2002. 

The Bloodhounds return to the Doghouse on Tuesday, November 20, for a non-conference game against New York University at 8:00 pm. The game will be live streamed at www.johnjayathletics.com/watch. 

"I am so proud of the leadership and connectnedness this team has shown through the first month, and we're looking forward to continuing that vs. NYU on Tuesday," Hyland added.