York College

Box Score

NEW YORK, NY – The York College men’s basketball team suffered a tough conference defeat Tuesday evening, losing to Baruch College, 63-58. 

The Bearcats led for the entire first half of play.  With Baruch leading 25-18, and 4:18 left in the half, Tammer Farid drained a three-pointer to give the Bearcats a ten point advantage.  The Cardinals clawed back within five points a few minutes later after a Marcel Esonwune (Lagos, Nigeria/ Marist Brothers) lay-up made it 30-25.  However, five straight points by Farid extended Baruch’s advantage to ten points just before halftime.  The Bearcats would take a 35-26 lead into the locker room. 

In the second half, York trailed 46-38 with 11:54 to play.   The Cardinals cut the lead to two points, 46-44, after back-to-back three pointers by Kevin Lausell (Brooklyn, NY/ Midwood) and Nahum Verna (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/ Hillcrest).  The Bearcats bent but never broke, however, and did not relinquish the lead. 

With 2:32 to play, the Bearcats still held a slight 56-50 lead.  However, Esonwune then picked up his fifth foul and Baruch took advantage with four quick points to put the game out of reach. 

Farid led the Bearcats with 16 points, while George Kunkel recorded a double-double finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

For York, Ryan Exum (Bronx, NY/ Truman) scored a game-high 20 points, had seven rebounds and five steals to lead the Cardinals in a losing effort.  Esonwune returned to the lineup after missing five games and scored 14 points to go along with nine boards.  Omari Phipps (Laurleton, NY/ St. Johns Prep) paced York with eight points and six rebounds.

York falls to 1-7, 0-2 in the CUNYAC while Baruch improves to 5-2, 2-0 in CUNYAC play.