Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island Men's Basketball team celebrated Senior Night tonight, but it wasn't enough to overcome visiting Baruch College, as they fell to the Bearcats, 76-63.  The Bearcats extended to a record of 16-9 to end their season, while the Dolphins finalized at 9-16.

The story of the game tonight was Baruch racing out to a sizable early lead, as CSI struggled with their shooting.  From there, the Dolphins tried in vain to mount a comeback, but could not lift themselves over the hump on a night where they honored seniors Krystian Kopec, Adeola Latunji, and James Delahanty.

Despite the high of the Senior Night ceremony, it was all Baruch to start the game.  Adnan Bajrami canned two-straight three's to open the game, and after CSI saw a lay-up from Kopec to make it 6-4, Baruch then ran off with a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to take a huge, 20-4 edge that CSI had to find a way to work their way out of.  The teams sparred back and forth from there, but with CSI employing a press, the Bearcats had a lot of success scoring transition baskets breaking the press time and again, and a lay-up by Michael Richards gave the visitors a 31-14 edge 12 minutes into the contest.

The Bearcats would lead by as many as 18 in the first frame, the final time on another Richards basket, but CSI was able to close the frame on a modest 8-4 run to close to 44-30 at the break, as Kopec scored CSI's final four points in the period where CSI shot just 36% (13-36) to Baruch's 64.3% (18-28).

Baruch wasted little time burying CSI deeper with a 7-0 run to open the frame, as Emil Purisic scored a three-point play in-between two more Richards baskets.  At 17:09 to play, it was then Baruch's turn to grow cold from the floor and sloppy with the ball and after an 0-5 stretch with six turnovers over the next seven minutes, CSI was able to piece together an 11-0 run cutting the deficit to just 10, 53-43, on an Andrew Kartalis three.  CSI, however, could not take enough advantage, as Baruch powered to an 8-0 run in response.

With under eight minutes to play, CSI had time for one more run, and they got it in the form of a 9-0 bender to make it 63-54 with 4:12 to go, finalized by another Baruch turnover and a Latunji dunk.  The Dolphins, however, did not have enough gas in the tank and in foul trouble they simply could not draw any closer as Baruch was able to whip together a 10-4 run to end the game and put the game thoroughly out of reach by the end, 76-63.

Baruch placed four players in double figures, led by Richards' 19 points to go with six rebounds.  George Smythe, Jr. scored 17 points and 15 rebounds in the win while Purisic scored 14 and Bajrami 11.  The Dolphins were led by Kartalis' 18 points and six steals, while Joseph Zieris, who fouled out after 26 minutes of action finished with 11.  CSI shot just 34.2% from the field (25-73), an anemic 3-24 from beyond the arc (12.5%) and a chilly 10-22 from the free-throw line (45.5%).  Baruch finished at 48.2% from the field (27-56), and a respectable 17-23 from the line (73.9%).  The Bearcats owned a huge lead on the glass, 52-37, but committed 25 turnovers to CSI's 12.

For the Dolphins, they fell for the second-straight time to close the season while Baruch won their fourth in a row to close the regular season.    

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