The men's and women's basketball teams traveled to Paterson, NJ to take on the Passaic County Panthers in a doubleheader. After finishing last season with a remarkable 25-5 record, the Passaic County team ranked 10^th in the preseason NJCAA Men's Basketball Poll, but were no match for the Panthers offense on Thursday night as BMCC went on to win 98-87. The Lady Panthers kept the ball rolling with a 73-51 victory for a third consecutive win to start the season.
 
Featuring numerous scoring threats throughout the lineup, opposing teams have struggled to contain the Panthers offense this season. This trend continued against Passaic County with seven BMCC players tallying 5 or more points while the team combined to shoot above 56.7% from the floor, including 9 three-pointers. Passaic County did not have an answer for leading scorers Curtis Smith and Quran Dublin as the freshmen duo combined for 38 points. Panthers guard Lawrence Todman raised his scoring average with a season-high 14 points along with a team-high in rebounds[10], blocks[1], and steals[3]. As the Panthers continue to dominate teams with their three-point shooting, Anthony McClean went 2-2 from three-point range, while the 6'7 forward Viktor Kovacevic showed his range by knocking down all three of his shots from behind the arc on the way to an 11 point victory.
 
On the women's side, the Lady Panthers matched their season-high of 73 points with four players recorded season-high scoring totals.  After a slow start to the season, sophomore Nikola Zilakova returned to form with 22 points and 3 rebounds. Karina Ortega poured in 21 points including three 3-pointers to go along with 7 rebounds, and Maryam Toure had her best performance of the season with 11 points and 13 rebounds. BMCC outrebounded Passaic County by a 40-33 margin leading to help bring their record to 3-0 this season.
 
BMCC basketball will be back in action on Saturday when they return home to take on the Nassau Lions in an afternoon doubleheader. Tip off is set for 12 noon.