The men's basketball team traveled to Phoenixville, PA and came out with a 75-66 victory at the University of Valley Forge on Monday night. The Bloodhounds improve to 11-7. The Patriots drop to 1-13.
Senior
Essien Epps recorded a team-high 23 points and eight rebounds. The Bloomfield, NJ native had a huge end of the first half with 17 points in the period. Junior
Doug Levy finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points, team-high nine boards, and team-high three blocks.
Senior
Jerome Petty picked up 14 points and sophomore
Romello Ford dished out a team-high four assists and grabbed six rebounds. Sophomore
Eric Pujols came off the bench to add nine points and three three-pointers.
Leading by three, the Patriots went on a 7-1 run to increase their advantage to 15-6. Epps then hit a three-pointer and sophomore Odis Gause III followed with a layup to cut the deficit to four with 14:34 left in the first half.
The hosts responded on a 7-0 run to increase their lead back to 11. Up by eight, Valley Forge scored 10 straight to hold a 35-17 advantage with 5:49 remaining in the half. Epps went to work as the senior scored 13 of the next 17 points (Levy with the other four) to end the half on a 17-0 run to trail 35-34 heading into halftime.
John Jay opened the second half on an 8-0 run courtesy of four points each by Epps and Levy. With 11:30, the Patriots cut the deficit to 48-45. The Bloodhounds quickly increased their lead back up to 11 as Gause III made a layup and Pujols hit back-to-back three-pointers.
With 4:47 left to go, Valley Forge trimmed the lead down to eight but that was as close as they would get as the Bloodhounds would go on to increase their win streak to three.
John Jay went 26-for-69 (37.7%) from the floor, 8-for-26 (30.8%) from behind the arc, and 15-for-22 (68.2%) from the free-throw line.
The Bloodhounds return home for a conference game against the College of Staten Island on Wednesday, January 23, at 8:00 pm at the Doghouse. The game will be live streamed at
www.johnjayathletics.com/watch.
