The men's basketball team lost to Brooklyn College, 67-61, on Monday night in Brooklyn, NY. The Bloodhounds fall to 14-10 on the year and 8-7 in CUNYAC. The Bulldogs improve to 14-10 and 9-6 in the conference. 

Senior Essien Epps led the offense with his fourth double-double of the season with a game-high 22 points, game-high 13 rebounds, season-high eight assists, and team-high four steals. 

Sophomore Eric Pujols came off the bench to shoot 5-for-7 from behind the arc to total 15 points. Sophomore Kyle LaGuardia finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and season-high five assists. Junior Doug Levy added seven points and eight boards. 

The first three minutes went back-and-forth with five lead changes. Down by one, John Jay went on a 6-0 run as Epps and Levy had three points apiece. With 12:32 left in the half, the score was tied at 13-13. 

The Bulldogs followed with eight straight but Epps scored the next five points to trail by three. Down by seven, Pujols sank a three and Levy made a layup to trail 27-25 with 3:36 remaining. The hosts closed out the period registering the final eight points to lead 35-25. 

One minute in and behind by 10, Levy hit a layup, Pujols drained a three-pointer, and Epps made a jumper to cut the deficit to three. 

Epps then hit a three with 10:51 on the clock to give the Bloodhounds their first lead of the half, 46-44. Brooklyn scored the next four points but Epps and Pujols made back-to-back three-pointers to put John Jay back ahead 52-48. 

The Bulldogs responded on a 6-0 run but a layup by LaGuardia tied the game with 4:18 remaining. Brooklyn used a 7-0 run, consisting of over three minutes, to pull away for the home victory. 

John Jay finished 23-for-47 (48.9%) from the floor, an impressive 10-for-23 (43.5%) from behind the arc, 5-for 8 (62.5%) from the free-throw line.

The Bloodhounds close out the 2018-19 regular season on Wednesday, February 13, when they host Hunter College at 8:00 pm at the Doghouse. The game will be live streamed at www.johnjayathletics.com/watch. Before the contest, the Athletics Department will honor seniors Jordan Aiken, Luciano Cruz-Fernandez, Essien Epps, and Jerome Petty as part of senior day.