New York, NY - The John Jay men's basketball team opened the final stretch of the CUNY Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) slate on Tuesday night at The Doghouse.
The Bloodhounds played their third consecutive game in friendly confines and scored their third consecutive win, knocking off the York College Cardinals, 79-70.
John Jay improves to 7-1 in CUNYAC play; maintaining its share of first place in the conference standings. The conference record continues to match its best since the 2019-20 season.
Keyshawn Miller and Jeremiah Cardi combined for 42 points in the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Malakai Clark fueled a run to put York in front to open the game, totaling five points in the first four minutes to give the Cardinals a 9-3 lead.
The Bloodhounds erased the Cardinals' largest lead of the game in 62 seconds, as Jordan Evelyn got open under the basket for a quick two points then fed Jamir Stewart in transition.
Stewart looked to be off to the races off of Cardi's first steal of the game but was fouled and tied the game, 9-9, with 15:53 remaining in the first half.
York's Demetrius Gould helped maintain the Cardinal lead by connecting with Brandon Barrett on successive trips down the floor, putting the visitors ahead 16-12 in the first six minutes.
After the Bloodhounds tied the game with 13:31 to play, Miller put the home side in front for the first time on Tuesday night with his first three of the game. His triple was the first of five for John Jay in the first half, outscoring York 15-3 from distance and hitting at a 35.7% clip.
The CUNYAC block leader, Emmanuel Adenekan, helped preserve the lead by swatting away his second shot of the game with 12:28 to play and finding Miller in the offensive end. The Bloodhounds led 21-16 headed into the final 12 minutes of the half.
John Jay continued harvesting defensive rebounds on repeated misses by the Cardinals, pulling in 14 in the first half, and punishing the visitors on the offensive end.
As York continued to unsuccessfully attempt to keep pace with the Bloodhounds' three-point shooting, the home side took its first double-digit advantage on Syl Granda's lone triple of the half. John Jay's lead extended to 34-24 with 6:10 to play.
Despite an offensive flourish by the Cardinals that cut the John Jay lead back to three points in less than 90 seconds, York struggled to keep the Bloodhounds off the foul line. Jordan Evelyn, Granda and Miller combined for 5-6 shooting from the line in the final 3:30 of the half to pad the lead.
After Aidony Nivar pulled the Cardinals within two possessions with 1:16 to go in the half, Cardi splashed his third of three three-point attempts to eclipse 10 points in the half. York looked for the final basket of the half, but Miller joined the block party, and driving to the rim to give John Jay a 44-35 halftime lead.
Miller hit the locker room with 15 points under his belt, followed just behind by Cardi with 11 points.
The two sides traded baskets coming out of the halftime break, Cardi's fourth three pointer put the Bloodhounds back in the drivers seat, 50-43, with 15:50 to play in the second half.
The Cardinals showed an immediate improvement in their three-point shooting, improving from a 7% hit rate in the first half to 54.5% (6-11) in the second half. Nivar's second of the game pulled the game back within six points, 46-52, with 14:43 to play.
York was held scoreless for the next 4:28 of game action, as the Bloodhounds tacked on a 7-0 run to regain a double-digit lead. Granda's second three of the game pushed the Bloodhound advantage to 61-48 in the final 11 minutes.
A promising string of three-pointers from Cardinals shooters were again undone by shooting fouls against John Jay, hitting four straight free-throws to lead 67-58 in the last six minutes. Miller eclipsed the 20-point threshold with his first free throw after being fouled on a put-back attempt with 5:26 remaining in the half.
Miller has scored at least 20 points in six different games this season.
The visitors looked to have one last gasp in the final three minutes, connecting on a three-pointer by Michael Litchfield at the 2:23 mark, that cut the Bloodhound lead to 71-65.
Out of the timeout York called directly after the shot, Jamir Stewart pulled any hope out of the visitors bench with his lone three-pointer of the game.
The Bloodhounds went 5-6 at the line in the closing minutes to secure the win, 79-70.
Miller and Cardi led the way offensively with 21 points each. Cardi's four three-pointers are his most against CUNYAC competition, and second most this season.
Miller now sits with 20+ points in two of his last three games, improving his season average to 14.8 points per game.
The Bloodhounds' assist leader, Evelyn, led all players with seven on the night. He added 13 points and one steal.
Granda clinched his sixth double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Adenekan closed the game out with six blocks, his third game this season with at least that many. He currently leads the conference with 48 total blocks this season and finished the week of Jan. 27 ranked 13th in the nation in the category.
NEXT UP: The Bloodhounds make the trip across town to face Hunter on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:00 p.m.
