New York, NY - At the 11:58 mark of the first half, senior wing
Keyshawn Miller recorded his 1,000th career collegiate point while teammate
Jamir Stewart netted a team-high 20 points as the John Jay men's basketball team fell to the visiting Westfield State University Owls, 80-68, at the Doghouse on Tuesday.
Miller hit the four-figure mark on a breakaway layup at the 11:58 mark of the first half, as he finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block.
Stewart is a now eight points shy of becoming the 15th Bloodhound in program history to join the 1,000-point club, as he finished 6 of 19 from the field, while going a perfect 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. The Baldwin, NY native added six rebounds and two blocks in 33 minutes of action.
Adrian Kopec narrowly brought the Bloodhounds back in the contest, as the Staten Island, NY native finished with a career-high 17 points on 6 of 12 shooting while connecting on 5 of 7 from beyond the arc as he was the third Bloodhound to finish in double-figures.
Four Owls finished in double-digits, led by Jason James, who tallied a team-best 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting while pulling down six rebounds. Kenneth Rogers Jr. recorded a double-double, concluding the contest with 19 points and 11 rebounds while narrowly making it a triple-double, finishing with six assists in the contest. A.Z. Allah added 17 points while hitting on 7 of 13 from the floor, while Xavier Lewis chipped in 11 points.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the opening moments of the contest until Miller hit a turnaround jumper in the paint. A.Z. Allah hit a driving layup that gave the visitors a 9-8 lead. Miller was able to poke the ball away from Allah and go coast-to-coast for the towering layup, which gave the Bloodhounds a 10-9 lead and, more importantly, gave Miller career point 1,001 at the 11:58 mark of the first half.
From that point, John Jay used a 9-4 spark to take a 17-13 lead as
Myles Tucker converted on the pull-up jumper as the Bloodhounds hit 4 of 5 during the 2:17 burst. The visitors took control of the momentum over the final eight minutes of the first half, using a 21-12 run in which the Owls converted 6 of 12 from the field and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line. The Bloodhounds were down just 4 of 15 over the final eight minutes, despite Stewart hitting on two free throws with 22 seconds left in the half as John Jay trailed 34-31.
John Jay found the shooter's touch from the outside to start the second half, as the Bloodhounds hit on 3 of 4 from the outside to cut the deficit to one, 41-40, following a Stewart triple off the pass from
Ronnie McIntyre. A 10-4 run by Westfield State increased its lead to 51-44 on a Rogers Jr. layup before McIntyre stopped the run with a layup of his own.
John Jay continued to fight back as Kopec erupted on a 9-5 run of his own over the next two minutes, going 3 of 3 from beyond the arc as the Bloodhounds trailed once again by one, 56-55, with 9:42 left to play in regulation. Lewis halted the momentum built by the Bloodhounds, hitting a three-pointer on the other end, which ignited a 21-8 run by the Owls and increased the lead to 77-63 with 90 seconds remaining in the contest.
John Jay scored five of the game's final eight points, three of which came from the line, as they dropped their final home game of 2025.
For the game, John Jay hit on 33.3 percent from the field (25 of 75) while going 10 of 31 from long range (32.3). Westfield converted on close to 40.0 percent from the floor, but the Bloodhounds' defense contained the Owls from long range, holding the visitors to just 1 of 11 shooting (9.1 percent) on the night. The Owls held a 56-44 edge on the boards while scoring 54 of their 80 points from inside the paint.
The Bloodhounds will come back from the holiday break with one final game in 2025, as they make the short trip to the John A. Paulson Center to square off against last season's national runners-up, the NYU Violets.
Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. on December 30.
