Brooklyn, NY | The College of Staten Island Men's Basketball team avenged a loss they suffered to Brooklyn College earlier this season, with a 66-61 road victory over the Bulldogs at the West Quad Center this evening. CSI lifted to 9-14 overall with the win, while Brooklyn fell for the fourth-straight time to drop to 9-13.
A good start helped CSI control much of the game and get off to a halftime edge. After taking a more sizable lead in the second half, the Dolphins were then able to weather a feverish comeback to score the win and tie the season series in what could have well been the final meeting ever between the two sides.
Before the late scramble to hang on for the win, it was a great start that catapulted the Dolphins to the early lead.
Adeola Latunji took a
Rigaud Destime alley-oop pass and dunked in the game's first basket, setting off an 8-0 run to start the game for the visitors. Latunji scored six of the first eight points, and then later a three by
Andrew Kartalis, followed by a pair of free-throws put CSI up by an even-10, 16-6 with 14:09 to play in teh first half.
In a recurring theme of the game, however, Brooklyn kept coming back, and they answered CSI's hot start with an 11-0 run to take a 17-16 edge, started by an Anthony McClean three and two inside drives from Noah Shy.
Joseph Zieris returned the favor for CSI, but BC would stay hot and took their biggest lead at 24-20 with 7:02 left on a Wendly Alce jumper. CSI returned fire, extending on a 12-3 bender, finalized by a jumper from Latunji and a drive by Zieris to grab a lead it would hold on for the duration of the first half, going in, 38-33.
Things looked great for the home team coming out of intermission, as McClean nailed a three and David Melman then tied the score at 38-38 less than a minute into the half, but BC went cold from there, and CSI took full advantage. Latunji stayed hot with a lay-up, and then Zieris converted on two scores to start CSI on a numbing 15-2 run over the next seven minutes to help CSI to a 53-40 lead.
CSI would keep a double-digit lead over the next five minutes until BC started to wage a feverish attempt at a comeback with a little over seven minutes to play. Orri Cohen started a 10-0 run and ended it with a three to knot the score at 57-57 with 4:49 to play. CSI's Kartalis buried a much-needed three to steady CSI back on track, but as the game went down to the wire, CSI only saw themselves up by the smallest of leads, 62-61, with 1:48 to go, when Shy converted on an inside drive for BC.
After a CSI turnover, BC failed to convert, and with just over a minute to go, Zieris broke away for a fast-break lay-up to extend CSI by three, 64-61. Cohen would then miss a three for BC and rather than foul, the Bulldogs would look to force a miss. The Dolphins came through, as with the shot clock winding down, Zieris converted a Destime pass underneath for a score with just 12 seconds left to make it 66-61. Zieris was fouled on the play as well but missed his free-throw. A scrambling BC team then missed a pair of shots as the buzzer sounded to preserve the CSI win.
CSI finished shooting 47.6% from the field (30-63), and made just 2-3 free-throws in the game. Zieris led all with 22 points on 11-15 shooting, adding three rebounds and four blocks. Latunji posted 18 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while Kartalis came off of the bench to score 13 points with seven assists. BC was led by Shy's 15 points and seven assists, while Jordan Wright posted 12 points. BC shot 40% (24-60) in the game. CSI won the turnover battle, 15-11, while BC won the rebounding battle, 37-26.
CSI will return to action in 48 hours, when they finish the season with the first of two home games against Hunter College, on Wednesday, february 12, at 7:30 PM.
