JAMAICA, N.Y.--The York College men's basketball team (19-7) is heading to the CUNY Athletic Conference semifinals, where they will meet up with Lehman College on Tuesday, February 25 at 8 p.m. The game will be played on the campus of City College.
York edged John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the quarterfinals by a score of 63-55. This was seventh straight win for the Cardinals, who have not lost a game since January 29th against Baruch College; who were upset in this year's quarterfinals by sixth-seeded Lehman, 68-60, for the right to play in the semifinals.
One of the keys to victory for the Cardinals will be 2013-14 CUNYAC Player of the Year
Michael Woods. In the team's quarterfinal matchup with John Jay, he struggled to get going early on, which allowed the Bloodhounds to keep the game close all the way to the last few minutes.
Woods, who holds a York College record for
most points in a game (46) and most points in a season (743 and counting), led the conference in points per game this year and was second in the country (28.6). He'll be trying to lead the Cardinals to their first title since 2007.
Junior swingman
Omar St. John was the propelling force to lead the Cardinals to victory in that quarterfinal matchup, as he finished with 17 points on 5-11 shooting. The First-Team CUNYAC All-Star also chipped in three steals, five assists and six rebounds. His 17.7 points per game were good for eighth most in the CUNYAC. The Lightning will also have to beware of
Jaron Williams, who leads the conference with 2.6 blocks per tilt and ranks third in the conference with 9.6 rebounds per game, while also averaging 11.4 points—falling just short of averaging a double-double. Despite his impressive numbers, he was snubbed from the CUNYAC All-Star team.
However, Lehman (14-12), like John Jay, will be no pushover. The Lightning have not lost a game since the last time they played York on February 11th; where they fell on the road in blowout fashion, 79-53. Three straight wins since then have them confident they can pull off yet another upset in these CUNYAC playoffs.
Similar to York, Lehman has reached this point thanks to strong play by a few star players. Most notable of them all is forward and CUNYAC All-Star Jerrome Jones. His 16 points and 14 rebounds last game led Lehman in both categories. His averages of 17.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game during the regular season were good for ninth and fourth most in the CUNYAC respectively. He will need to find a way to attack the Cardinal defense, which held him to eight points on 3-14 shooting during the aforementioned February 11th contest in Jamaica.
Kelvin Gil and Jonathan Greenfield have also been key performers for the Lightning of late. Greenfield's 13 points and 13 boards against Baruch helped him join Jones as the only other player to register a double-double in the contest and Gil's 12.3 points per game ranked him 19th in the CUNYAC during regular season play.
In the two teams' other regular season matchup on January 18
th, Woods and St. John had big days scoring (39,19) and York defeated Lehman, 84-76. The Cardinals were able to overcome a two-point first-half deficit in the Bronx to secure the victory. Jones' impressive totals of 27 points and 16 rebounds led the way for the Lightning.
In this semifinal matchup, the number two-seeded Cardinals look to advance to the CUNYAC championship game for the first time since 2010—where they lost to Brooklyn College; while Lehman looks to end a ten-year drought and reach the finals for the first time since 2004—which they won over City Tech.
The winner of this game will take on the winner of the #1 College of Staten Island and #5 Hunter College matchup in the championship bout. Tickets to the semifinal game at City College are free but must be downloaded by going to
cunyathletics.com/tickets. The game will also count as double rewards points in the Students First Rewards Program
(read more about that program here). If you can't make it up to Harlem for the game, live stats for the Cardinal-Lightning matchup will be available
here.
