Bayside, NY | The men's basketball team squared off against their cross-town rivals on Tuesday night in a CUNY Athletic Conference showdown against the Queensborough Tigers. Facing a 16 point deficit early in the second half, the Panthers came storming back to tie the game and capped off the comeback with a go-ahead layup from freshman Viktor Kovacevic with 2 seconds remaining to win 98-96.

After allowing the Tigers to go on a 24-5 run midway through the first half, the Panthers would enter halftime trailing Queensborough by 13 points. But the Panthers came out firing in the second half, hitting shot after shot to go on a 16-0 run to erase the deficit. From that point it would be a classic back and forth battle between the two conference rivals, with the lead changing hands 15 times in the second half. With the time running out, Quran Dublin drove into the paint and dished to Kovacevic who converted the go-ahead basket. On the final play of regulation, Eric Johnson Jr. made the defensive play of the game to tip the inbounds pass up in the air to allow Aliou Cisse to come down with the ball as time expired to bring the Panthers conference record to a perfect 2-0.

"This team is resilient. We were down early on, but this team never gave up" said Coach Guerin following the win. "Everyone on the team got in the game and contributed to tonight's win."

Before knocking down the game-winner, Kovacevic was incredibly efficient despite being the only big man in the Panthers starting lineup for the Tigers to defend. The BMCC forward racked up 15 points on just 7 attempts while keeping his presence felt on the defensive end with 3 blocks. It was yet another outstanding performance in a string of great games for Dublin, the 3-time CUNYAC freshman of the week was 1 assist shy of a triple-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Curtis Smith was a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line on his way to 19 points, while Lawrence Todman finished with career-highs in scoring [18], rebounding [13] and blocks [5]. For the fifth time this season, freshman Aliou Cisse finished with a double-digit scoring total by going 4 of 7 from the field and knocking down 5 free throws. In limited minutes, Johnson Jr. contributed with 7 points and 3 rebounds then sealed the game with a last-second tipped pass.

The Panthers will have a few well-earned days off before they return to action next Tuesday to take on the Hostos Caimans. Tip-off is set for 7:45pm.