Poughkeepsie, New York – The No. 6 seeded BMCC men's basketball team's season came to a close on Wednesday night 81-57 to No. 3 seed Dutchess Community College in the 2023 Region 15 Quarterfinals. The Falcons improve to 16-11 on the season with the victory and will take on No. 2 seed Monroe-Bronx this Saturday in the Region 15 quarterfinals on March 4 at Kingsborough Community College. The Panthers finish the 2022-23 season at 11-13, the program's first double-digit winning season since the 2019-20 season, and their 11 wins being the program's highest total in three seasons.
 
The Panthers also made their first CUNYAC Championship and captured seven conference victories for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.
 
Three of the Panther's five starters, all of them freshmen, finished the evening in double figures, with Leverson Tulien (Roslyn Heights, New York) leading the way with a team-high 17 points and missed his sixth double-double of the season with a team-best eight rebounds and swatted away two shots also a team-best. Classmates Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) and Daniel Laffitte (New York, New York) chipped in with 16 points and 10 point respectively with 10 of Jarrett's 16 points coming in the first half.   
 
Sophomore Jeremiah Cardi (New York, New York) dished out a team-best three assists and tied for another with Laffitte with two steals. Cardi concludes his BMCC career 15th all-time in program history with 501 career points with 25 career double-figure scoring performances and ninth in school history with 54 career three-pointers made, which passes Shahrod Drumond and 19th in program history in career assists with 103 passing Shayne Smith. 

The sophomore from New York, New York, was also a two-time CUNYAC All-Star and All-Region 15 Second Team selection while grabbing CUNYAC Player of the Week honors twice this season and three times overall for his career. Cardi had a stellar debut last season, averaging 28.5 points per game in his first two contests to grab Conference Player of the Week honors after registering a career-high in his first contest as a Panther with 31 points in an 87-69 victory over Kingsborough C.C. on November 4, 2021.

Freshman Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York), who finished the game with three points and three rebounds with an assist and steal, corralled a team-high 52 steals this season which moved him into a seventh all-time passing Elijah Bryant.

Marte, a four-time CUNYAC Rookie of the Week, including a back-to-back winner on December 19 and 27, joined teammates Laffitte, a two-time Conference Rookie of the Week winner, and Jarrett and Tulien, also Conference Rookies of the Week to help the Panthers lead the CUNYAC in Rookie of the Week selections with six total this season. The program made it eight Conference weekly selections total this season, with Cardi capturing two Player of the Week honors this season.

The Panthers also accomplished a major historical mark not set since the 2001-02 season with three CUNYAC All-Star selections, with Cardi, Marte, and Laffitte picking up the honors at the CUNYAC All-Star Luncheon.
 
The core four of Marte, Laffitte, Tulien, and Jarrett all return next season for the Panthers, with Marte leading the Panthers in total points (276), Laffitte in scoring average (12.1), while Tulien and Jarrett finished one and two in rebounds (186 and 162) and rebounding average (8.9 and 7.0). Tulien was also the leader in blocks with 36 this year, while Jarrett was third with 22.

The Panthers also finished the season sixth in the nation in steals per game at 11.7.

Dutchess Community College led wire to wire all night, racing out of the gate quickly to take a 15-point lead, their largest of the first half, 21-6 at 11:44 on a Rasean Greer layup. BMCC would mount a furious charge outscoring the Falcons 18-8 over the next 7:48 to get the deficit down to five, 29-24, with 3:56 remaining on a Laffitte layup. Dutchess C.C. scored seven of the final 11 points to take a 36-28 advantage into the halftime break.
 
After Laffitte's three-pointer at the 18:48 mark cut the deficit to eight again, 39-31, the Falcons would take over the rest of the way, using a 17-6 run to get the lead to 20 for the first time on the night 58-37 at 10:27 on a Jacob Barnett jumper and extend it to its biggest of the game 28, 72-44 at 6:03 on a Greer layin and keeping a 20 point advantage to the final buzzer winning it 81-57.
 

ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
The athletic program at Borough of Manhattan Community College encompasses a total of eight varsity teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level. For the latest news on the Panthers, please visit us at https://bmccathletics.com - The official site of BMCC Athletics. Follow the Panthers on Instagram (@bmcc_athletics) and Twitter (@BMCCAthletics), and Like Us on Facebook (BMCC Athletics).