Brooklyn, NY |  In a game that came down to the very last possessions, it was Medgar Evers College that got the plays they needed that resulted in an 87-83 victory in their favor over visiting College of Staten Island in Men's Basketball action.  The loss fell the Dolphins to 3-5 overall, while the Cougars lifted to 2-7.

In was a back-and-forth game between the two sides from the get-go, a game that featured 10 ties and eight lead changes.  MEC got the better of play from the outset, as three's by Devin Berrios, Keison McIntosh and then a jumper by Elias Scott got the Cougars off to a 9-0 start before CSI finally scored over three minutes into the game on a Lay-up from Adeola Latunji.  

CSI used that to spark an 11-0 run to take the lead, powered by three's from Austin Mick, Latunji, and Andrew Kartalis.  Four-straight points from Latunji and then a lay-in by James Delahanty then gave CSI a more sizable, 20-13, advantage with 11:09 to go in the half, but a clutch Berrios three ended the run, keeping the game close.  

MEC started the half strong, and ended it strong as well.  Falling behind by 10 on a Joseph Zieris lay-up, eight-straight Jonathan Grimsley points helped tie the score at 36-36, and the teams would go in tied at halftime moments later, 39-39.

Grimsley would score again to start the second half to stake MEC to a lead, and for the rest of the way the teams pawed back and forth.  MEC went up by as many as seven, 53-46, when James Julien canned a three, but time and again CSI came back to stay within distance.  After cutting the lead to two three times, CSI finally got back even with 5:43 remaining, using a Latunji lay-up to even things up at 67-67.

The lead changed hands three times from there, and MEC took a four-point lead at 3:05.  After another Latunji lay-up, two freebies by Delahanty and a split trip by Chris Velasquez, the score was tied again at 78-78 with just 1:40 to go.  Another trade of baskets had the score tied again at 80-80 with just 49 ticks left.

On the next possession, a phenomenal individual effort by Zieris gave CSI an 82-80 lead with 31 seconds to go.  Zieris missed two layups but got his own rebound twice and the third time was the charm on the put-back.  Then on the other side of the floor with just seconds to play, Zieris had a big block on a would-be tying shot, giving the ball back to CSI.  But MEC followed by forcing a CSI turnover and Scott buried a lay-up and was fouled to make it a huge swing in the game, giving the Cougars an 83-82 lead.  After a called timeout, CSI again turned the ball over, this tme via an offensive foul right off the inbounds pass.  McIntosh made it hurt by burying his free-throws.  Down three, CSI was put to the line, and after only making one of two, CSI was forced to foul and MEC put the game on ice with another two free-throws by McIntosh again.

For CSi, Latunji led all scorers with 29 points on 14-21 shooting, adding a season-high 14 rebounds.  Zeiris had a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards, adding five blocks, while Mick poured in 15 points and Delahanty 10.  Grimsley scored 22 points to lead MEC, adding 10 rebounds.  Mousa Sinera also posted a double-double with 12 points and a whopping 17 rebounds.

CSI shot 50% from the floor (36-72) but struggled mightily at the line, making just 5-of-18 shots (28%).  MEC shot 43.8% (32-73), while hitting on 68% from the line (15-22).

CSI will now have over a full week's rest before returning to the court.  They will travel to face Pace University on Saturday, December 14, at 3:00 pm.