York College

Box Score

JAMAICA, NY— Medgar Evers College held the York College men's basketball team scoreless over the final five minutes of play to pull away and earn a 63-48 win over the Cardinals in a CUNY Athletic Conference contest Wednesday evening. 

The game was closely played throughout but the Cougars defense came up strong in the final minutes of play, forcing four York turnovers and holding the Cardinals to just two shot attempts during the five-minute stretch. The Cougars Jovan Deare helped put the game away, scoring six points during the last five minutes of play. 

The first half of play saw both teams going back-and-forth in the early-going.  Medgar Evers finished the first-half strong just like they did in the second half.  Following a Marcel Esonwune lay-up that cut the Cougars lead to 18-17 with 6:11 to play before halftime, the Cougars closed the half with a 9-4 run to take a 27-21 lead going into the locker room.  Robert Johnson of Medgar Evers drained a three-pointer as time expired to give the Cougars a six-point cushion. 

For the first six minutes of play in the second half, York slowly cut into the lead and eventually tied the game when Kevin Lausell drained a shot from behind the arc to tie the score at 34-34.  However, the Cougars followed with a made free throw on its next possession and a three-pointer on the possession after that to go up by four points (38-34) with 13:34 to play.  The Cougars led the rest of the way as they improved to 5-9, 3-1 in the CUNY Athletic Conference.

York (3-12, 1-3 CUNYAC) was led by Esonwune who finished with a double-double, scoring 18 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking three shots.  Lausell added 13 points and David Simon finished with eight.  The Cougars were led by Jovan Deare who netted 18 points and pulled down eight rebounds.  James Gilmore added 11 points to pace the Cougars.

York will return to action next Wednesday, when they visit John Jay College at 7:00 p.m.