Bronx, New York – The BMCC men's basketball team raced out to a game-best 11-point first-half lead on Hostos Community College, the top team in the CUNYAC, but couldn't finish them off as the Caimans pulled away late in the second half for a 65-57 victory against the Panthers on Tuesday night at the Swamp. The loss drops the Panthers to 9-15 (5-4 CUNYAC), while the Caimans improve to 16-9 (9-1 CUNYAC) with the win.
 
Three of the five Panther starters scored in double figures on the night, with freshman Khalil Black (Queens, New York) leading the way with a team-high 22 points for his 15th straight double-figure game and team-leading tied 20th on the season with sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York) who chipped in with 11 points on the night. 
 
Classmate Jayden Jarrett (Bronx, New York) registered his sixth double-double of the season with a team-best 11 boards and 10 points. Jarrett also dished out a team-high three assists and tied for another team-best with Black swatting away two shots. 
 
Marte ranks fourth in program history with 718 points and moved into seventh in single-season history with 442 points, which is a personal season high for him.

Black's team-high 50 three-pointers made are now the 10th most in a single season and also tied for 12th all-time in program history. Jarrett is fifth all-time in program history with 361 career rebounds and moved 10th all-time in Blocks with 45. 
 
The second installment between these two squads followed a different narrative than the last one back when the two squads met in December with eight different lead changes and four ties. After both teams traded the game's first 16 points, the Panthers went on a 13-2 run to build their lead to its largest on the night 11, 21-10 at 9:50 when Black went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe. The Caimans responded with a 15-5 run to close out the first half, getting the Panther lead down to one, 26-25, with 1:56 remaining, capped off by a pair of Tyrese Conway free throws, and that result remained as both teams headed into the locker room for the halftime break. 
 
The second half was a back-and-forth slugfest featuring seven different lead changes and one tie. BMCC grabbed five of the first seven points to increase their lead to four, 31-27, on a Black three-point play at 18:42, then Hostos went on a 7-2 run to go back in front 34-33 at 16:07 on a layup. The Panthers scored seven of the following 10 points to retake the lead, 38-36, on a Black three-pointer at 14:24 and bring it up to four, 41-37, at 12:31 on a Marte layup. The Caimans responded with an 8-2 run to grab the advantage back 45-43 at 11:19 on a three-pointer before Black responded with a trey of his own to put the Panthers back in front by one, 46-45 at 10:51. 
 
Hostos grabbed control of the game right after a tip-in at 10:28 gave them back the lead by one, 47-46, and BMCC would get it down one, 49-48 on a Emmanuel Agyei (Brooklyn, New York) layup at 9:30 but not get any closer as the Caimans outscored the Panthers 16-7 over final 9:16 of the period to get their lead to its largest of the night 10, 65-55 on a layup with 14 seconds remaining and hold on after for the 65-57 victory.
 
The Panthers will look to send their four sophomores off on a high note on Thursday, February 8, against CUNYAC opponent Bronx Community College at 5 p.m. at BMCC Gymnasium. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Basketball Schedule Page.


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