Staten Island Edges York in Battle for First Place
CSI Remains Perfect in Conference; York now 1.5 Games Back of First
John Scarinci, Director of Sports Information
BOX SCORE
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— With first place on the line in the CUNYAC Men's Basketball standings, the College of Staten Island maintained its perfect conference record and held off the York College men's basketball team, 80-75, on Wednesday night.
Staten Island is now 14-2 overall and 8-0 in the CUNYAC, while York drops to 11-6 overall and 7-2 in the CUNYAC. Both conference losses for York were against Staten Island. The Dolphins previously beat the Cardinals in another tight game, 78-76, back on November 26.
The game was about as close as it gets for most of the way. In the first half, both teams continually exchanged buckets and neither team led by more than four points at any time. The second half saw a bit more separation by both teams. The Cardinals pulled ahead by five points, 50-45, following a three-pointer by
Justin Garvin with 12:26 to play. The lead didn't last long though, as CSI pulled back ahead by one just over a minute later.
The biggest stretch of the game came shortly after when the Dolphins went on an 11-1 run to move ahead by nine points, 66-57, with 5:35 remaining. The run was mostly a result of a cold offensive stretch for the Cardinals, as they went nearly four minutes without a field goal.
But just when it looked like CSI might pull away, York battled back with a run of its own to tie the game at 67-67, with 2:57 to play.
Michael Woods, the four-time CUNYAC Player of the Week, was the catalyst for the Cardinals as he scored ten straight points for York to pull his team even.
The Dolphins answered Woods' play with eight straight points very quickly, however. A three-point play by Jon Chadwick-Myers and then a three-pointer by Frankie Schettino on consecutive possessions put the Dolphins back up by six in a hurry. After a defensive stop, CSI scored again to go up by eight points, 75-67, with just 54 seconds left.
York still managed to keep it interesting, thanks in part to Woods again. Woods scored, then stole the ball and scored again on the following two possessions to cut the deficit to just two points, 75-73. But with just 20 seconds to go at this point, York needed to foul to stay alive.
York managed to get the ball back with ten seconds left and trailing by three points. But a three-pointer by
Donald Rodriguez was off the mark. The Dolphins grabbed the rebound and scored on a fast break to put the game away.
In the loss, Woods led the way with a game-high 31 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds and three steals.
Jaron Williams netted 16 points, pulled down nine rebounds and had three blocks, while Garvin finished with a career-high 13 points. As a team, York will have its poor three-point shooting to blame mostly for the loss. Though their outside shooting has been a strength for the most part this season, that was not the case tonight. York was just 1-of-13 from beyond the arc—its worst output of the season.
CSI had a balanced attack, with five players reaching double figures in points. Bloochy Magliore led the Dolpinhs with 17 points.
York will return to action on Friday at 7 p.m. with a non-conference contest at home against St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn).
