Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island Men's Basketball team came up short in their bid for a repeat Tournament of Heroes Championship, as they fell hard at the hands of visiting Wheaton College (MA) by an 82-62 count at The Tank this afternoon.  The Lyons lifted to 5-4 with the win, while the Dolphins fell to 4-7 to close out the 2019 calendar year.

The 18th Annual Tournament of Heroes serves to honor the memory of former CSI men's basketball players Terrance Aiken, Scott Davidson, and Tom Hannafin, and the many others who lost their lives during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  Earlier in the day, Bridgewater College pulled past Curry College, 76-67, in the Consolation Leg of the Tournament, and in the Championship, Wheaton imposed their will and shrugged off a series of Dolphins attempts at a comeback to stake their lopsided win in what was their first Tournament of Heroes appearance.

CSI could not have gotten off to a better start, as Austin Mick and Joseph Zieris started the game with back-to-back three-point goals to get the home team off to a 6-0 edge.  CSI would hold the lead for nearly the first five minutes, until a lay-up by Aaron Williams, part of six-straight points for him, gave the visitors a 9-8 edge.  The teams played even from there, and CSI used an Adeola Latunji jumper to even the score at 15-15 with 12:42 to go.

From there, however, the game belonged to Wheaton.  Robby Lowey responded with an immediate three after the Latunji jumper to ignite a 10-0 run.  Lowey would add another two baskets, including another three in the run.  A persistent CSI rattled off a series of points to close to within 28-24 with 5:03 to go, helped along by consecutive lay-ups from Andrew Kartalis, Krystian Kopec, and Bryan Gomez, but the Lyons blasted off a 12-1 run to finish the stanza to take a commanding, 40-25, edge going into the locker room intermission, their largest lead in the game to that point.

With most of CSI's starters on the bench, CSI's Rigaud Destime started the second half with a three-point play, but the Dolphins could not sustain the pressure, and Wheaton would shift offensively to compensate for the CSI defense, taking open perimeter looks or switching off to focus on their interior game when CSI shifted to strong perimeter presence.  A three by Aaron Williams opened the lead to 17, 49-32, and later, when CSI again retaliated and closed to 51-41 with 14:36 to go, Wheaton responded with a 10-2 run to expand the lead again with 11:02 to play.

With time running out, CSI could only close the gap from there to as few as 12 points, at 9:55, but another Williams lay-up bounced the lead back up to 74-54 with 5:16 to play.  Wheaton would go up by as many as 22, 79-57, with 3:47 to go, before ultimately settling for a 20-point win, 82-62.

Robby Lowey led the way for WC with 21 points and finished tied for the team-lead with 9 rebounds, meriting him Tournament of Heroes MVP honors, while fellow teammate Williams, who also earned Tournament All-Star honors finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds.  Evan Cook finalized with 17 points, while Alex DuBrow finished with 12 assists to go with eight points and eight rebounds.  CSI was led by Destime's 18 points, while Zieris chimed in with 14 points in an abbreviated 18 minutes.  Latunji, who earned All-Tournament honors thanks largely to his Tournament of Heroes record 38 points last night, was held in check, posting just six points and four rebounds in 23 minutes.  Wheaton finished the game shooting 46.7% (28-60) and won the rebounding war, 53-30.  CSI was a +4 in the turnover column, posting just 12 turnovers to WC's 16.

CSI, which took home Tournament Championships in 2013, 2015, and 2018, fell to 17-19 all-time in Tournament of Heroes play.  Up next for the Dolphins, they will travel to John Jay College on Saturday, January 4, for a 3pm showdown with the Bloodhounds, part of 14-straight games against CUNYAC opponents to end the season.

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In the Consolation Leg of play, after 12 lead changes and eight ties, Bridgewater pulled away in the middle stages of the second half to score a nine-point final victory over Curry College, handing the Colonels their seventh-straight loss (3-7) while the Eagles improved to 5-7.  Davrion Grier, en route to an All-Tournament Team citation, scored a game-high 19 points on 8-10 shooting to go with 9 rebounds.  Liam Caswell used a big first half to finish with 17 points and six rebounds while Monte Simpkins led the Eagles with 11 rebounds.  For Curry in the losing cause, Daymeann Stewart led the way with 14 points, followed by Jared Thorpe-Thompson's 11 points, earning him All-Tournament honors following a 34-point effort last night.
 

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