Box Score
JAMAICA, NY— Junior Marcel Esonwune had the game of his career, recording a triple-double, scoring 32 points, grabbing 24 rebounds and blocking a career-high 12 shots to lead the York College men's basketball team to an exciting, 79-78, overtime victory over rival Brooklyn College Friday evening. With the win, the Cardinals clinch the CUNY Athletic Conference regular season title and will be the top seed in next weekend's CUNYAC playoffs.
The game featured a match-up of the two top teams in the CUNYAC. York (18-6, 11-1 CUNYAC) and Brooklyn (16-6,10-2 CUNYAC) played with the regular season title on the line. It also featured a match-up between two of the conference's best, Richard Jean-Baptiste from Brooklyn and York's Esonwune.
Esonwune played an inspired game, dominating on both offense and defense, despite playing with foul trouble for most of the game. His strong play got the Cardinals off to a quick start. York took an early 13-point advantage (23-10) with 11:35 left in the half and looked to be in control of the contest. The Bulldogs battled back and slowly cut into the lead and trailed by four points at halftime (31-27).
Things got dicey for York in the second half. All five of its starters went into the locker room with two fouls apiece and Esonwune, Ryan Exum and Shamir Wilkinson quickly picked up a third foul to start the second half. The numerous York fouls led to Brooklyn being in the bonus just seven minutes into the second half. Even with so many players in foul trouble, the Cardinals managed to maintain a narrow lead for the first ten minutes of the second half.
With 10:51 to play, a steal and a dunk by the Bulldogs' Amil John put Brooklyn up on top 59-57. The game would continue to be tight throughout the remainder of the half, with neither team leading by more than four points at any time during the remainder of the game.
With 1:14 to play in regulation, Esonwune picked up a foul and made both free throw to put York up by two (74-72). On the ensuing possession, Esonwune picked up his 12th block of the game and the ball went to York with 36 seconds to play. However the Cardinals turned the ball over back to Brooklyn, giving the Bulldogs an opportunity to tie the game. John was able to put in a lay-up with 21 seconds remaining to tie the game.
On the next York possession, York attempted to hold the ball for a final shot but Exum missed a three-pointer and Brooklyn was able to get the rebound with two seconds left. On the in-bounds pass, Brooklyn's Richard Jean-Baptiste was able to get an excellent shot off, but the ball bounced off the rim, sending the game into overtime.
The back-and-forth play continued in overtime. With 52 seconds left Exum drew a blocking foul which sent him to the free-throw line and also fouled Jean-Baptiste out of the game. Exum was able to connect on one of two free throws to give York a one-point advantage (79-78).
On the final possession of the game, Brooklyn was able to work the ball around to Thomas Guerin who got off a wide-open three-point attempt that failed to connect. However, the Bulldogs grabbed the rebound with 19 seconds left and called a timeout.
After the timeout, John was able to get free under the basket for what appeared to be an easy lay-up. However, the shot did not fall and the game ended after a mad scurry for the loose ball in the final seconds of play. The win gives York its second regular season title in the last three seasons.
Also contributing for York in the win was Nicholas Hamilton-Lopez with 12 points and Elijah Evelyn with 11. Brooklyn was led by John who finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds and Jean-Baptiste who had 16 points and eight boards.
