New York, New York – The BMCC men's basketball team bounced back, showing mental toughness to finish a strong CUNYAC road effort against Kingsborough Community College that led for the majority of the game, overcoming a 74-73 deficit with a furious rally in the final 2:27 with 12 of the final 21 points to grit out an 85-83 victory over the Wave on Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn, New York. The Panthers snap a three-game skid to improve to 6-10 (3-3 CUNYAC), moving into third place, while the Wave drop to 5-8 (2-5 CUNYAC) with the loss.
 
Four Panther players of the five Panthers starters posted double-digit scoring efforts on the afternoon, with two registering 20-point games and another putting up a double-double. This game marked the fourth time this season that BMCC has had four players put up double figures in a single game.

Freshman Khalil Black (Queens, New York) spearheaded the effort with a career-high and team-high 26 points, with 14 of them coming in the second half. Sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) dropped his team-best tied third 20-point game of the season with 22 points, including 12 points in the second half. Classmate Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) posted his third double-double of the season with 15 points and a team-high 15 rebounds, while freshman Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) dished out a team-best six assists and chipped in with 13 points in the contest.

Marte and Jarrett also led the Panthers on defense, with Marte snatching a team-high three steals and Jarrett turning away a team-best three shots. Black also chipped in the glass with seven rebounds on the day.

The Panthers spread the wealth again on the hardwood, distributing double-digit assists the second straight game and 14th time this season with 16 dimes in the contest, which is tied for the third most this season with five players giving out two or more assists on the afternoon with Marte handing out three and Black and classmate Dontate Creedland (Brooklyn, New York), and sophomore Elijah Paul (Brooklyn, New York) serving up two each. The Panthers also took care of the basketball again in the contest with just 13 turnovers. BMCC also outscored the Wave 48-40 in the Paint and scored 17 points off turnovers.
 
The Panthers caught fire right from the start, leading the Wave the entire first half by racing out to a 12-point lead 13-1, their largest of the day on a Jarrett layin and holding the Wave without a field goal for the first five minutes. Kingsborough responded with an 11-2 run capped off by a pair of free throws to cut the BMCC lead down to three, 15-12, at 10:16. The Panthers roared back with nine straight points to get their lead back to six, 21-15 on a Marte layup at 6:42 before the Wave responded with an 8-2 run to knot the game up at 23 at 4:05 on a pair of free throws. Marte capped off six straight points from BMCC on a score at 2:23 to increase the margin to six, 29-23, before KCC got the lead down to four, 29-25, at the 2:00 minute mark on a layup. 
 
The Panthers closed out the first half strong with seven of the last 11 points, as Creedland connected on a bank shot three-pointer at the buzzer to cap it off, giving the Panthers a 36-29 halftime advantage.
 
BMCC kept their pedal to the medal in the second half, getting the advantage back to double digits five more times in the first six and a half minutes, with the first nine of the first Panther points being scored by Black to get the lead to 10, 41-31 at 18:26 on a three-point play and 11, 45-34 at 17:17 on another layup. Marte posted a layup at 16:04 and went 1-of-2 at the charity stripe at 14:41 to make it 47-36 and 48-38, then Jarrett made it 50-40 at 14:41 and 52-42 at 13:19 with two layups of his own. Kingsborough Community College would not go away, mounting a charge with a 12-3 run to cut the deficit down to one, 55-54, on a three-pointer at 10:58. 
 
The Panthers would get the lead back to four, 58-54, on a Boubacar Mbaye (Staten Island, New York) layup at 9:58 before the Wave would score 10 of the following 15 points to get their first lead of the afternoon, 64-63 on a layup at the 6:27 mark. BMCC scored 10 of the next 16 points of their own to retake the lead 65-64 at 6:07 on a Jarrett jumper and increasing the margin back to five, 73-68 at the 3:36 mark on a pair of free throws from Black before the Wave scored six straight points tying it at 73 with 2:43 remaining and going in front for the second time on the day by one, 74-73 when Phillip Harris went 1-for-2 at the line. 
 
Black saved his best performance for last with the go-ahead points for BMCC on a three-point play on a hard drive down the left baseline to make it 76-74 with 1:28 remaining. Marte added some insurance with a three-pointer from the right wing with 49 seconds remaining to move the lead to five, 79-74, one that the Panthers would not relinquish again as they would hold off the Wave for an 85-83 victory.
 
The Panthers will look for back-to-back victories for the first time since last November and their first-ever season sweep of Region 15 opponent Monroe-Bronx this Tuesday, January 16, at 7 p.m. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Basketball Schedule Page.

Notables –
- After Ysaia Marte's (Bronx, New York) 22-point scoring effort over the weekend, he has now set new career-bests in points (281) and scoring average (18.7) while registering seven career 20-point games during his time at BMCC.
- Marte leads the Panthers with 36 steals and has grabbed two or more steals in 10 straight games and 13 times in 16 games this year. He also moved into fifth all-time in career steals with 88, surpassing Jamel Austin's 85 career steals from 2004-2005.
- Marte also moved up to ninth all-time in school history with 557 career points, passing Valon Djombalic's 549 career points from 2010-2013.
- Khalil Black (Queens, New York) has recorded eight straight double-figure games and a team-best tied 12 overall on the season. Black leads the Panthers in three-pointers made (29) and three-pointers attempted (76), connecting on two or more three-pointers in nine of his 16 games this season. 
- Black is also second on the Panthers in total points (220), scoring average (13.8), field goals made (74), field goals attempted (190), free throws made (43), free throws attempted (56), and steals (24).
- Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) also has climbed up the BMCC men's basketball program record books, moving into eighth all-time in program history with 293 career rebounds, passing Malik Bentinck's total of 280 career rebounds from 2019-20.
- Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) has dished out a team-best 80 assists, eighth most in the nation, and tied for 12th in the country in assists per game with a 5.0 assist per game average. Griffin has dished out three or more assists in 13 of his 16 games this season, including four or more in two straight games and 11 of his 16 contests this year.


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