New York, NY - The John Jay men's basketball team trailed by 15 at halftime and staged an 18-2 run midway through the second half to trail by two, 60-58, but Baruch outscored the Bloodhounds, 16-11, over the final six minutes as John Jay was defeated, 78-70, in a rematch of last season's CUNYAC Championship at Arc Arena.

Newcomer Aidony Nivar led three Bloodhounds in double-figures, as the junior guard scored a team-high 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting, which included a 4 of 5 clip from the outside. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native added five rebounds, three steals, and an assist in 28 minutes.

Keyshawn Miller continued to fill up the stat sheet, as he netted 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting while converting 3 of 5 from the outside. The Yonkers, NY native pulled down a team-high six rebounds, dished out three assists, had six steals, and a block in 31 minutes of action. Jamir Stewart scored 11 points while teammate Ronnie McIntyre distributed a career-high seven assists.

Baruch was paced by Nicholas Lam, who dropped a game-high 23 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field while dishing out six assists. Teammate Peter Douvres added 20 points on 6 of 11 shooting, with all six field goals coming from beyond the arc. Trevon Coppin chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds, while Jack Gordon scored eight points and had 12 rebounds.

The Bloodhounds faced a 9-2 deficit before Myles Tucker drilled a three-pointer, which prompted a 13-8 run from the visitors as they trailed by two, 17-15, before Miller capped the run with a three-pointer of his own. Baruch upped its lead with ten minutes to go before halftime, using a 10-0 run to lead 27-15 after Mario Idir hit from the outside.

The Bloodhounds continued to fight back, getting to within six on the strength of a 15-9 run as Nivar heated up from the outside, scoring nine of the 15 points as John Jay trailed 36-30 with 4:30 left before intermission. In what turned out to be a half of runs, the Bearcats concluded the half on an 11-2 run, as Baruch took a 47-32 lead into the break.

John Jay shot 40.7 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes while converting 46.7 percent from three-point range (7 of 15). Baruch converted at a 51.5 percent clip (17 of 33) from the field while hitting on 10 of 15 from the outside (66.7 percent).

The Bearcats commenced the second half on an 8-0 burst to go ahead 55-32 on a Lam driving layup. Tucker hit a three-pointer for the first points of the half for the visitors, which kick-started a lengthy run by the Bloodhounds, a 23-3 outburst as John Jay trailed 58-55 after a three from Miller.

During the 8:27 run by the Bloodhounds, the visitors converted 8 of 12 from the field and 4 of 5 from the outside and held Baruch to just 1 of 11 shooting and 1 of 9 from three-point range, as Douvres hit a three-pointer early in the run. Miller made the front end of a two-shot foul, which narrowed the gap down to three, 62-59, with 6:13 remaining in regulation.

Nivar continued his offensive prowess, scoring back-to-back buckets, as John Jay trailed 65-63 before Lam hit on a driving layup. James Bradberry muscled in a layup, as John Jay again trailed by two, 67-65, with 2:46 left to play. Bradberry went 1 of 2 from the line as that would be the closest John Jay would get, as Baruch closed the game on an 11-4 run to escape with the eight-point win.

Both teams converted over 40.0 percent from the field and from the outside.

The Bloodhounds return to The Doghouse on January 14 to host Medgar Evers at 8:00 p.m.