New York, NY | For the second consecutive year, the BMCC men's basketball team earned a spot in the CUNYAC Tournament Final. While last year they finished with a perfect 10-0 conference record to earn the #1 seed in the tournament, this season the script was flipped after the Panthers finished with a 4-6 record in the conference to enter as the bottom seed in the tournament. Despite the odds, the Panthers successfully defended their home court as they upset the top-seeded Bronx Broncos to advance to the finals. With a vast amount of playoff experience from 6 returning players from last year's championship team, the Panthers had their sights set on defending their title on Friday night. In order to do so, they would have to knock off the #2 seeded LaGuardia Red Hawks led by CUNYAC Rookie of the Year Winston Egwu and 2-time Conference Player of the Week Ryan Yearwood.

The Panthers got off to a slow start offensively, finding themselves in a 15 point deficit midway through the first half. Down 31-16, CUNYAC All-Star Kenneth Coar sparked the offense with a driving layup on an assist from Dominek Tucker. A quick Jamel Harris three off an inbound pass followed by a Tucker layup-and-1 put the Panthers right back into the game. Coar, the leading rebounder and scorer in school history continued to impact the game with a defensive rebound and a quick outlet pass to Brandon Williams for the easy fastbreak layup, and then the forward threw down an emphatic dunk to tie the game at 38-38 to end the half.

BMCC hit the ground running in the second half while the Red Hawks struggled to find a rhythm on offense. Four minutes into the half, the Panthers had jumped out to a 51-42 lead behind a Harris three-pointer and a pair of layups from team captain Jonathan Jones. With 6 minutes remaining, LaGuardia had rallied back and it would become a one point game with the lead changing hands on each possession.  A 7-0 run in the final minutes would put the Panthers in a hole they could not dig themselves out of. They would draw within two points on a pair of three-pointers from Coar and Neil Veira, but it was not enough as they fell to the Red Hawks by a final score of 75-72.

After finishing the tournament with 45 points to lead his team in scoring, Williams was named to the All-Tournament team. The sophomore guard was joined by his teammate Matthew Boyd who filled up the stat sheet with 30 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 9 steals over the two games.

The Panthers will turn their focus towards the Region XV tournament that begins next week, stay tuned for scheduling information.