New York, New York –  The BMCC men's basketball team showed grit and determination on Saturday afternoon, erasing a 14-point second-half deficit and outscoring Suffolk Community College 43-29 overall, capped off by a game-winning three-pointer from sophomore Elijah Paul (Brooklyn, New York) to help the Panthers grit out a 68-64 Region 15 victory at BMCC Gymnasium. The Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory, improving to 5-7 (5-4 Region XV), while the Sharks dropped to 4-7 (Region XV) with the loss.
 
BMCC's three-game winning streak over Suffolk Community College is their largest in this series after sweeping the Sharks last season with a 66-47 win on the road on December 13, 2022, and a 78-69 victory at home last season, 78-69 on February 4, 2023.
 
Sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) led the offensive effort with a team-high 18 points, 11 of them in the second half, for his team-best tenth double-figure scoring performance of the year to go along with a team-best four assists. Freshman Khalil Black (Queens, New York) drained 17 points, 11 coming in the second half, and a game-best three three-pointers. The Panthers had 16 points total come from their bench, with freshman Kimmeo Dixson (Bronx, New York) connecting for a career-high nine points, while Paul chipped in with seven points, including the go-ahead three-pointer in the second half.

Freshman Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) took down a game-high 12 rebounds and registered a game-best four blocks, while Marte snagged a team-high three steals while Black had two of his own. Marte also dished out a team-high four assists, Griffin handed out three, and Black had two.

BMCC was clutch at the free throw line in the second half, shooting 94.7 percent from the charity stripe (18-for-19) and finishing with an 82.6 percent mark (19-for-23) on the afternoon while scoring 20 points off of 21 Suffolk Community College turnovers and outrebounding the Sharks 29-26. BMCC also handed double-digit assists for the fifth straight game with 10 assists.

BMCC scored eight of the first 13 points of the contest, jumping out to an 8-5 lead on a Black three-pointer at 16:26. Suffolk Community College responded with a furious 16-2 run over the next 6:12 capped off by a Kevin Blanchet three-pointer at 10:14 to get the lead to double digits for the Sharks for the first time on the afternoon, 11, 21-10.
 
The Panthers countered with 8-0 run with a Marte steal and layup, cutting the deficit to three, 21-18 at 7:19. Then the Sharks would score 14 of the following 21 points to get their lead back to double digits twice at 10, 33-23 at 1:37 and 35-25 at halftime on two Amari Issacs Layups.
 
The Sharks kept their foot on the accelerator to start the second half, posting seven of the first 10 points to get their lead to its largest of the afternoon, 14 points at 16:33 42-28 on a layup from Romeo Tanksley. Suffolk Community College would get the lead back to 14, 44-30 at 14:22 on a jumper from Samir Bell, and the Panthers exploded for an 18-6 run over the next 9:07 capped off by a Marte three-point play at 5:27 to cut the deficit to two, 50-48.

After three Suffolk free throws got the lead back to five, 53-48, the Panthers utilized an 11-4 run to tie it up at 55 at 2:14 on a Marte layin at 2:14 and go in front 59-57 for the first time since early in the first half on a pair of Black free throws with 55 seconds remaining. After Amari Issacs went a perfect 2-for-2 at the charity stripe with 39 seconds remaining, Paul took a feed from Griffin at the top of the key and swished home a go-ahead three-pointer with 26 seconds left to make it 62-59. Marte would go 4-for-5 at the free throw line to help fend off to more rallies from Suffolk Community College on a three-point play by Issacs with 11 seconds left and a layup from Reese Berry with one second left to help the Panthers come away with a 68-64 victory.
 
The Sharks had three players of their five starters register double-digit scoring efforts led by Amari Issac's game-high 19-point performance. Reese Berry and Rufino Oliva had 13 points and 10 points, respectively. Berry took down a team-high seven rebounds, while Issacs and Kevin Blanchet tied for a game-high in assists and steals with five each.
 
The Panthers will try to get back-to-back victories on Tuesday, December 19, at 7 p.m. against Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York, at Viking Gymnasium. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Basketball Schedule Page.

Notables –
- Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) is second in the country with 4.8 blocks per game and fourth in the nation with 57 blocks.
- Mohammed's 57 blocks surpassed Akeem William's total of 55 from 2013-2014 for the eighth most in a single season and in all-time in school history, surpassing Viktor Kovacevic (Belgrade, Serbia) from 2017-2019.
- Mohammed also leads the Panthers with 156 total rebounds and a 13.0 rebounds per game average. He is also seventh in the country in rebounding average (13.2) and eighth in the nation in total rebounds (156) and rebounding average (13.0), registering a team-best nine double-digit rebounding games and four double-doubles. 
- Khalil Black (Queens, New York) recorded back-to-back double-figure scoring performances and averaged 14 points per game, 45.4 percent three-point shooting from (5-for-11), six rebounds, five steals, and three assists during the Panther's two contests against Rockland Community College and in Region 15 action against Suffolk Community College over the weekend, making it four straight double-figure games the last two weeks and eight overall for him on the season, which is second on the Panthers.
- Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York), who led all scorers for the sixth time this season and recorded his team-best 10th double-figure scoring performance of the year. He also leads the Panthers in points (219) and scoring average (18.3) on the season.
- Marte also moved into 16th all-time in points with 495 career points, surpassing Patrick Bonna's 483 career points from 2006 to 2008.
- Marte stands five points away this coming Tuesday night from being the ninth Panther men's basketball player in program history to score 500 career points.
- Marte leads the Panthers with 27 steals and has grabbed two or more steals in seven straight games and 10 times in 12 games this year. He ranks sixth all-time in school history with 79 career steals, surpassing Christian Best's 75 career assists from 2011-2013.
 - Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) has dished out a team-best 69 assists and averages 5.8 assists per game, both tied for seventh nationally. Griffin has dished out three or more assists in 11 straight games and five or more helpers in eight of his 12 games this season.
- Black leads the Panthers in three-pointers made (21) and three-pointers attempted (52), connecting on two or more three-pointers in five of his ten contests this season. He is second on the Panthers in total points (156), scoring average (13.0), field goals attempted (124), free throws made (35), free throws attempted (42), and steals (20) while ranking third in field goals made (50).
- Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) is ranked second on the Panthers with 98 rebounds, 8.2 rebounds per game, 56 field goals made, and eight blocks while ranking third with 99 field goals attempted and 56.6 percent shooting. He is also second on the team with four double-digit rebound games and second with two double-doubles. 


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