New York, New York – Kimon Rutherford's layup from the right block with nine seconds remaining helped Passaic County Community College stun BMCC men's basketball 68-67 on Saturday afternoon at BMCC Gymnasium. BMCC drops to 5-10 with the loss while Passaic County Community College improves to 7-10 with the win.
 
Sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) spearheaded the offensive effort for the Panthers on the afternoon with his second 30-point performance of the season and team-leading tied 11th double-figure game with a game-high 38 points, 20 of them coming in the first half while scooping up a game-best three steals. Marte knocked down 10 or more field goals for the fourth time this year, going 17-for-27 from the field (63 percent) with his 27 field goal attempts a new career-best while becoming the 10th player in program history to score 500 career points, moving into 10th all-time in school history with 535 career points surpassing Alex Humphreys's total of 531 career points from 2017-2019.
 
Freshman Khalil Black (Queens, New York) put up his seventh straight double-figure game and team-best tied 11th of the season with all 11 of his points coming in the second half while classmate Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) dished out a game-high four assists.
 
Freshmen Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) and sophomore Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) both took down a team-high 11 boards while Mohammed swatted away a team-best three shots. 
 
BMCC ripped down a season-high 50 rebounds in the contest and outrebounded Passaic County Community College by an eight-rebound margin of 50-42. The Panthers took care of the basketball the best they did all season with eight turnovers, their fewest of the year while distributing double-digit assists for the 13th time this season and the seventh time in their last eight contests with 11 in the contest.
 
The contest was a seesaw battle between both squads that saw seven combined lead changes and eight ties. The Panthers got off to a strong start in the first half with the first five points on a pair of Marte layups at 19:39 on a three-point play and 19:00 to lead 5-0, then stretched it to a 7-2 advantage on a jumper by Mohammed. Passaic County Community College responded with an 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time, 8-7 on a Devinir Garvey jumper at 16:40 and a jumper by Joseph Mazzola to make it 10-7 at 16:02. The Panthers came back with a 7-0 run capped off by a layin from Marte at 14:14 to make it 14-10 before PCCC scored eight of the following 12 points with a Garvey three-pointer at 10:04, capping it off to knot the game up at 18.
 
Both teams would trade dunks from Garvey at 9:28 and Mohammed at 8:53 to tie it at 20, then PCCC would score seven of the following nine points, with a Garvey jumper getting the lead to five, 27-22, at 4:09. BMCC would score four straight points to cut the deficit to one, 27-26, at 2:54 on a Marte layin before Passaic County Community College scored 10 of the final 15 points of the period, stretching their lead to its largest of the day nine, 37-28 with 29 seconds left on a jumper from Chris Yepez and carrying 37-31 lead into the halftime break.
 
The second half was another slugfest featuring four lead changes and five ties. Passaic County Community College scored five of the first seven points of the second half to get their lead back to its largest of the afternoon nine, 42-33 at 16:59 on a jumper from Anthony Valdez then Panthers exploded for a 16-4 run - nine points of coming from Marte - over the next 5:41 as Zay put the Panthers back in front for the first time since the 10:59 mark of the first half 47-46 at the 11:24 mark and then stretched the advantage to three, 49-46 at 11:18. After a PCCC three-pointer from Anthony Valdez 18 seconds later BMCC used a 7-0 run to build their lead to its largest on the day seven, 56-49 at 9:26 on a Marte layin.
 
Passaic County Community College roared back with a 13-2 run over the next 3:15 to back in front by one, 59-58 on a pair of free throws from Garvey at the 6:54 mark, and stretch the advantage to four, 62-58 at 6:11 on a Mazzola three-pointer. BMCC scored four straight points to tie it up at 62, capped off by a tying three-pointer from Black. 
 
The final 4:45, four different lead changes and a tie as Najir Barne's knocked down a three-pointer at 4:45 to give PCCC back the lead, then Black knotted it up at 65 with a three of his own at the 3:59 mark. PCCC grabbed the lead back 66-65 when Kimon Rutherford went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe at 3:40, then Boubacar Mbaye (Staten Island, New York) took it tough to the rack and laid it up to put BMCC back in front by one 67-66 with 3:12 to go.
 
The Panthers had five opportunities to put the game away down the stretch but couldn't connect on two jumpers from Griffin and Mohammed at 2:24 and 2:18. Black couldn't cash in on a jumper and two layups, the last one coming with 29 seconds left then PCCC jetted up the court without using a timeout and Kimon Rutherford scored on a backdoor layup with nine seconds remaining to put PCCC ahead 68-67. Marte had a three from the right wing corner for the win, but it fell short, letting PCCC take the game 68-67.
 
Devinir Garvey led Passaic County Community College on the afternoon with a double-double, registering a game-best 24 points and 14 rebounds while uncorking a game-high four blocks. Kimon Rutherford chipped in with 12 points, while Najir Barnes handed out three assists. 
 
The Panthers will look to rebound a week from now on Saturday, January 13, in CUNYAC action on the road in Brooklyn, New York, against Kingsborough Community College at Kingsborough Gymnasium at 2 p.m. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Basketball Schedule Page.

Notables –
- Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) is tied for second in the nation with 70 blocks and second overall nationally with 4.7 blocks per game.
- Mohammed's team-high 70 blocks tie him for fourth most in a single season with Jericho Cherisma (Brooklyn, NY ) from 2016-2017 and is seventh all-time in program history. He has registered three or more blocks in 15 games this season.
- Mohammed also leads the Panthers with 203 total rebounds and a 13.5 rebounds per game average. He is also third in the nation in total rebounds (203) and seventh in the country in rebounding average (13.5), registering a team-best 12 double-digit rebounding games and six double-doubles. 
- Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) leads the Panthers with 33 steals and has grabbed two or more steals in nine straight games and 12 times in 15 games this year. He also ranks sixth all-time in school history with 85 career steals.
- Khalil Black (Queens, New York) has recorded seven straight double-figure games and a team-best tied 11 overall on the season. Black leads the Panthers in three-pointers made (28) and three-pointers attempted (72), connecting on two or more three-pointers in eight of his thirteen games this season and in his last four games. He is second on the Panthers in total points (195), scoring average (13.0), field goals attempted (173), free throws made (37), free throws attempted (47), and steals (23) while ranking third in field goals made (65).
- Ja'Lyn Griffin (Ithaca, New York) has dished out a team-best 74 assists, eighth most in the nation, and tied for 12th in the country in assists per game with a 4.9 assist per game average. Griffin has dished out three or more assists in 12 of his 15 games this season.
- Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) also has climbed up the BMCC men's basketball program record books, moving into 10th all-time in program history with 278 career rebounds, passing Johnnie Green's total of 269 from 2006-2007. He also has posted his second straight 100 rebound season with 116 total boards after ripping down 162 last year, which was second on the team.


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