New York, NY | The men's basketball team took on the Hostos Caimans Tuesday evening in a battle for the #1 spot in the CUNY Athletic Conference standings. Despite trailing by 7 with less than three minutes on the clock, the Panthers came out on top with a 99-94 victory to remain undefeated in conference play this season.

The Panthers took an early lead after going on a 23-6 run in the first half that was capped off by an emphatic fastbreak dunk from freshman Viktor Kovacevic, but the Caimans would fight their way back into the game and ended up trailing by just 4 points at the halftime whistle. After allowing Hostos to go on a 21-7 run late in the second half, the Panthers faced a 7 point deficit with time running out. With the home crowd behind them, the Panthers rallied back on a pair of free throws and a three-pointer from Kovacevic, followed by a driving layup from Curtis Smith to even the score at 90. The teams traded baskets before Smith hit yet another clutch layup while drawing the foul to put his team up by one point with under 30 seconds on the clock. The Panthers defense held strong for the final three Caimans' possessions of the game while Lawrence Todman and Quran Dublin took care of business from the free throw line to put the game out of reach. With the victory, the Panthers take sole possession of first place in the conference with one CUNYAC game remaining before the mid-season break.

Under the leadership of Coach Guerin, the team has evolved into the most dynamic offense in the conference this season. Though they were held to under 30% shooting from three-point range, the Panthers continued to find ways to score with three players reaching 20+ points. Todman picked up his second consecutive double-double while leading the Panthers in scoring [23] and rebounding [14]. The freshman duo of Smith and Dublin combined for 43 points and Aliou Cisse poured in another 10. Kovacevic finished the night with an impressive 9 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Mark Morgan provided a spark for the offense by penetrating the Caimans defense with a number of driving layups to finish with 6 points after coming off the bench.
The Panthers will have a day to enjoy the win before they return to action against Monroe-Bronx Campus. During halftime of Thursday's game the athletic department will be honoring the sophomores and award-winners from all of the Fall sports teams as part of our doubleheader homecoming event. Tip-off against the Express is set for 7:45 pm.