Box Score The College of Staten Island men's basketball team used an explosive first half run to take a big lead, then let it slip away before coming back in the final minutes to score a 78-76 win over York College in Jamaica, NY, this evening to open up CUNY Athletic Conference play.  The Dolphins leveled to 2-2 overall and lifted to 1-0 in CUNYAC with the win, while the loss sent the Cardinals to records of 2-3, 0-1, respectively.

From the opening minutes of the game, CSI seemed to rely heavily on its inside game, only the shots weren't falling, and as CSI missed a series of seemingly easy lay-ups and put-backs in the first 12 minutes, York built a respectable 19-12 lead.  A personal seven-point tear by Omar St. John was a focus of York's early success, but the Dolphins would have an answer.

A Javon Cox steal at 7:30 of the first stanza started an improbable 18-1 run by the Dolphins, spanning over five minutes.  Three Will Fonseca lay-ups did damage inside, as did a pair of inside drives from Cox and Michael Tate and a long-range bomb and running jumper from Frankie Schettino.  When the dust cleared, CSI had a 37-20 lead, holding the Cardinals to 0-8 shooting with four turnovers in the same stretch.  The Dolphins rode the same momentum into the lockers, holding a 40-24 lead.

In a typical conference matchup between these two teams, however, the game would get a whole lot closer in the second half.  The Cardinals began to chip away slow but sure, and thanks to big halves from Michael Woods, who finished with a game high 35 points, including 20 in the second frame and Donald Rodriguez, who connected on a pair of critical three's, York worked itself all the way back.  With 2:55 to go and down by four, Woods canned a three and after a CSI miss, York grabbed the lead when St. John completed a three-point play to give the Cards a 71-69 lead.  Rodriguez's three ballooned the lead to 74-69 with 1:51 to play.

CSI asked for time and from there, the visitors would end the game on a 9-2 run to end the game.  First, Javon Cox executed a three point play to knock the lead down to two with 1:30 to go, and after forcing a YC turnover, Will Fonseca completed a drive to knot the score at 74-74 with 1:06 to go.  After a York miss, CSI's Schettino was fouled with 16 ticks to go, and made both to give CSI the lead.  After the freebies however, Woods raced down to tie the score with an off-balance jumper in the lane.  Down to one final shot, CSI's Schettino was fouled again with 3.1 seconds to go.  The frosh calmly sank both to give CSI lead, and down to one final shot, St. John missed a three pointer from half court at the buzzer, clinching the win for CSI.

Schettino led the Dolphins with 22 points, while Fonseca landed with 21 points and a team high 12 rebounds off of the bench.  CSI's Dylan Bulger finished his day with 11 points and 9 rebounds/.  After shooting just 27.1% from the floor in the first stanza, York shot a balmy 57.6% in the second stanza.  The Dolphins held the rebounding edge, 42-35, and held a 48-30 edge in points in the paint.

CSI returns to action a week from tomorrow, when they travel to face Brooklyn College for another CUNYAC contest at 7:30pm.