Bayside, New York – Having trailed Queensborough Community College by as many as 25 points twice early in the second half, the BMCC men's basketball team put together a furious final effort to get their deficit down to nine in the last three and a half of the contest. The comeback effort, however, would fall short as the Tigers pulled away for an 84-73 victory over the Panthers in CUNYAC action on Tuesday evening at RFK Gymnasium in Bayside, New York.
The victory is the first of the season for Queensborough Community College, 1-3 (1-0 CUNYAC), while the loss drops the Panthers to 2-2 (1-1 CUNYAC).
BMCC shot a season-best 92.3% from the line (12-of-13) and tied a season-high with 41 rebounds after accomplishing that same feat last weekend against Nassau Community College on November 11, 2023.
The Panthers had three players score in double figures for the second straight game, with sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) carrying the offensive torch with his second straight 20-point scoring effort with a game-high 24 points. Freshman Khalil Black (Queens, New York) made it back-to-back double-digit scoring performances, posting 16 points on the night. Sophomore Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) and freshman Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) led the Panthers on the glass, ripping down a game-best 14 rebounds each as Jarrett put up his fifth career double-double and first of the season, scoring 14 points. Mohammed turned away a game-high five shots.
Freshman Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) matched his career-best, dishing out a game-best eight assists. Marte also led BMCC on defense with a game-high four steals.
The Tigers got out of the gate quickly, scoring seven of the first ten points when Isiah Grant connected on a three-pointer at 17:00. Jarrett would record a layup at the 16:36 mark to cut the deficit to two, 7-5, then Queensborough outscored BMCC 26-8 over the next eight and a half minutes on a 14-6 run to get the lead to double digits for the first time on the night 10, 21-11 at 9:56 on a three by Grant. The Tigers would stretch the advantage to 20, 33-13 for the first time of the night at 8:04 on a trey from Grant, then increase the Margin to 24, 40-16 on another connection from three by Grant at the 6:08 mark.
The Panthers finished the half with 13 of the final 22 points to get the deficit down to 20, 49-29 at halftime on a pair of Black free throws.
The Panthers would not go away in the second half, outscoring the Tigers 44-35 overall in the final stanza. After Queensborough scored 12 of the first 19 points of the second half to get their lead to 25, twice their largest of the night, 59-34 and 61-36, on a jumper and layup at 15:57 and 14:47 by Yasin Abdur-Rashid the Panthers put together a furious final charge outscoring the Tigers 31-14 over the next 11:05 to get the deficit down to single digits 75-67 on a Marte fastbreak layin with 3:42 remaining. That was as close as BMCC would get failing to cash in on their next two possessions as Queensborough would take it 84-73.
The Tigers had five players, including four of their five starters, finish the evening in double figures with two 20-point scoring efforts. Williams Guzman spearheaded the offense with a team-high 23 points, while Yasin Abdur-Rashid had 20 points. Guzman also gobbled up a team-high five rebounds, and Abdur-Rashid dished out a team-best four assists while Joseph Ferguson, Isaiah Grant, and Brandon Sun chipped in with 16 points, 11 points, and 10 points, respectively.
The Panthers will look to get back to their winning ways on Thursday, November 16, in Region 15 action against Monroe-Bronx at 8 p.m. at Monsignor Scanlan Gym in the Bronx, New York. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Basketball Schedule Page.
Notables -
- The Panthers, through four games, have three players ranked in the top 20 nationally statistically, with sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) averaging 22.7 points per game, which is tied ninth in the nation, and Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) who is tied sixth with six assists per game.
- Freshman Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) is in the top ten nationally in two categories, ranking second in blocks per game (5.0) and seventh in rebounds per game (13.3).
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