The men's basketball team fought back all game but eventually fell to Baruch College, 72-66, on Monday night at the ARC Arena. The Bloodhounds drop their first conference game of the season and fall to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in CUNYAC. The Bearcats improve to 7-4 and remain undefeated at 3-0 in the conference.

Junior Kyle LaGuardia led the offense with his third double-double of the season with a team-high 15 points, a career-high and game-high 13 rebounds, and a team-high three steals. Sophomore Angel Rivera picked up 12 points, four rebounds, and a pair of steals. Junior Romello Ford tallied 11 points, a game-high four assists, and two steals. 

Senior Jayson Brower finished with 10 points and five boards. Senior Doug Levy and freshman Corey Jones Jr. registered seven points each. 

With John Jay trailing 12-6, Brower hit a jumper but Baruch followed with back-to-back three-pointers to lead by 10. Up by seven, the hosts scored the next five points with 9:40 left in the first half. Trailing by 15, the Bloodhounds responded on a 10-0 run to trim the deficit to 27-22. However, two minutes later the Bearcats increased their lead back up to 12 with just over three minutes remaining. John Jay ended the period on a 6-0 run to trail 38-31 heading into halftime. 

Down by nine in the second half, Rivera converted on a three-point play to cut the lead down to 44-38. Eighty seconds later, Levy connected on a three-pointer to trim the deficit to three with 15:40 left to go. Up by three, Baruch tallied six straight points. The Bearcats' largest advantage of the period came at 9:01 when they led 61-50. 

The Bloodhounds would not go down without a fight. One-and-a-half minutes later, John Jay trimmed the deficit to six. A layup by Brower with 3:43 remaining cut Baruch's lead to 65-63. However, Baruch scored seven of the game's last 10 points to hold on for the victory. 

John Jay finished 21-for-58 (36.2%) from the floor, 9-for-24 (37.5%) from behind the arc, and 15-for-28 (53.6%) from the free-throw line. 

The Bloodhounds visit Medgar Evers College on Friday, January 10, for a conference tilt at 8:00 pm.