In an exciting back-and-forth quarterfinals matchup at the Doghouse, the #3 men's basketball team held on for a narrowing 65-63 victory over #6 Lehman College on Saturday afternoon at the Doghouse. The Bloodhounds improve to 16-10 on the season. The Lightning end their season with an overall record of 9-17. 

"I'm proud of the guys we have in that locker room - they're fighters," head coach Ryan Hyland said. "All season long, we've done a great job of locking in and defending. Today, we had a concrete game plan that we were able to execute."

Senior Essien Epps finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Senior Jerome Petty made four three-pointers and totaled 16 points. Junior Doug Levy notched his 17th double-double with 12 points, a team-high 12 rebounds, and game-high three blocks. 

Sophomore Kyle LaGuardia fell one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards. Sophomore Romello Ford dished out a game-high six assists to go along with a game-high four steals. 

The Bloodhounds held much of the lead in the first six minutes but the guests were able to even the score at 13 apiece with 13:56 left in the half. Epps then drained a three and a layup by LaGuardia put John Jay ahead by five. 

The Lightning followed on a 7-0 run to take their first lead but two free-throws by Ford tied the game with 7:51 left in the opening half. Up by one, Ford made a layup and Petty sank a three to increase the lead to 28-22. At the half, John Jay held a 29-24 advantage. 

"Give Steve (Schulman) and Lehman a ton of credit," Hyland added. "That's a really tough group of guys. There wasn't an easy possession on either side of the ball for us today."

Trailing by six with 14:37 left to go, Lehman scored four straight to trim deficit to 37-35 but Petty responded with a three-pointer. Down by six, the Lightning went on a 7-1 run to tie the game at 49-49 with 8:44 remaining. 

Both teams then exchanged 6-0 runs with just under six minutes on the clock. John Jay regained the lead but once again, Lehman found a way to tie it with 2:59 left. 

Epps then made a deep three-pointer but a jumper by the Lightning cut the lead back to one. Ford responded with a layup but similar to the entire day, Lehman fought back with a jumper to trail 64-63 with 0:55 remaining. 

Senior Jordan Aiken made a free-throw with 10 seconds left to increase the lead to two. The Lightning had a last second opportunity to tie the game and send it to overtime but the ball rattled off the rim for a Bloodhounds victory. 

"We're a battle tested team, we've been in a number of games now that have been decided by one stop, or one score," explained Hyland. "I love the Blue Collar mentality our guys have - that will help us come Wednesday versus a very talented and well coached CSI team."

The Bloodhounds will now take on #2 College of Staten Island on Wednesday, February 20, at 7:00 pm in Staten Island. John Jay won its previous two games against the Dolphins during the regular season.