York College

BRONX, NY– The York College men's basketball team could not hold on to a seven-point second half lead as Lehman College rallied to defeat the Cardinals 72-68 in a CUNY Athletic Conference match-up Saturday afternoon.

After the Lightning held a narrow lead in the early going, York jumped out in front (17-16), following a Shamir Wilkinson lay-up with 7:03 left in the first half.   York held that lead through halftime and extended its lead to seven points (46-39) with 14:05 left in the game.

Things went south from there for York, as Lehman went on a 10-0 run, which was capped off by a Dwight Nangle dunk that put the Lightning up 49-39 with 11:11 to play.   Lehman would extend its lead to six points but York rallied to cut to back within one point (67-66) following another Wilkinson lay-up with 2:30 to play.

The Lightning's Samuel Batista responded with a made jumper on Lehman's next possession, and after two unsuccessful York possessions, Lehman got another basket to go up by five points (71-66) with 40 seconds left.   The Cardinals could not convert on their next trip and were forced to foul after that.  Lehman made one free throw to go up by six points and put the game away.

Despite the loss, York got major contributions from Wilkinson who recorded a double-double, scoring a game-high 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Marcel Esonwune added another double-double, registering 14 points and 17 boards and William Holley added nine points for York.

Samuel Batista scored 23 points to lead the Lightning.   Lehman improves to 10-8, 5-2 in the CUNYAC, while York falls to 4-13, 1-4 in the CUNYAC.

York will return to action on Wednesday when they host Hunter College at 8:00 p.m.