BOX SCORE
BROOKLYN, N.Y.— The York College men's basketball team used a complete team effort to upset rival Brooklyn College in overtime by a score of 79-73 in the quarterfinals of the CUNY Athletic Conference/ Con Edison Men's Basketball Championships Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals, who are seeded 7
th in the tournament, will now advance to the semifinals of the CUNYAC Championships, where they will take on #6 Medgar Evers College, who upset third-seed Lehman College by a score of 63-60. Tip-off for that game on Tuesday will be 8:00 p.m. at the City College of New York.
The Cardinals got major contributions from several players; most notably senior
William Holley, who finished with 24 points, a game-high 19 rebounds and three blocks. Junior
Tony Vails scored a game-high 25 points, had seven rebounds and four assists and
Mark Evans had 14 points and six boards, while also making several key buckets down the stretch and in overtime. Senior
Omari Phipps may the happiest member of the Cardinals, as he will get another crack at scoring 1,000 points for his career. Phipps scored six points in the game and now stands at 999 career points.
The game was extremely close from start to finish. The largest lead of the game was a seven-point advantage by Brooklyn, which they held briefly towards the end of the first half and again early in the second half.
In the first half, York struggled to handle Brooklyn's press and turned the ball over 15 times, which the Bulldogs converted into 23 first-half points. This enabled Brooklyn to take a 37-31 lead into halftime.
York made adjustments and only committed five turnovers in the second half and overtime, which allowed them to come from behind to get the win.
A key stretch midway though the second half came at the 12:34 mark, with the Bulldogs holding a 46-39 advantage. York opened up a 7-0 run to even the score up at 46-46. Evans drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to four points and then York forced a turnover on Brooklyn's next possession. Phipps followed with a lay-up and then after a defensive stop,
Tony Vails connected on a lay-up to even up the score.
Brooklyn regrouped and took the lead back and led by five points (58-53) following a Wade Kornegay lay-up at the 5:16 mark. Two possessions later, Holley single-handedly brought the team back. He scored on a lay-up and then followed with a three-point play on the next possession to even the score up once again.
York was holding on to a narrow one-point lead (63-62), when Brooklyn's Amil John was fouled and sent to the line with 1:30 to play. John hit both shots to put the Bulldogs up by one point. On York's next possession, Vails was fouled and sent to the line with 1:03 left. Vails was able to hit one shot to tie the game at 64-64.
On Brooklyn's next possession, John was fouled once again and was sent to the line for a one-and one. John missed the crucial front end of the one-and-one and York came up with the rebound. But on York's final possession of regulation, the Cardinals could not get off a shot and committed a shot clock violation. This set up Brooklyn with a chance for a final shot. Amil John brought the ball up to the top of the key and then attacked the basket with a few seconds left. He got off a shot in the lane but it was highly contested by York defenders and the shot was off the mark, sending the game into overtime.
The Cardinals controlled the overtime period, taking an early lead and never trailing. Evans was the catalyst for York, as he scored eight points in overtime, with six coming on a pair of three-pointers. The final three-pointer came with just 22 seconds left to give York a six-point lead which sealed the victory.
The Bulldogs were led by John, who finished with a team-high 22 points. Kavon Baker and Tyshawn Russell each had 17 points.
The Bulldogs drop to 17-9 with the loss. York improves to 9-17 with the victory.
Tickets for the semifinal game at City College are free. Tickets are only available online at cunyathletics.com.
Click on this link to register for tickets.
