NEW YORK, N.Y. – A jumper by Baruch's Granville Gittens with just two seconds left lifted the Bearcats to a 52-50 win over the York College men's basketball team in the semifinals of the 2015 CUNYAC/ Army ROTC Championships.
 
The Bearcats (20-6) now move on to the Championship game on Friday, while York (14-13) has likely played its final game of the season.
 
With the score tied at 50-50 and Baruch holding for a final shot, Gittens drained a jumper from about 15 feet out on the right elbow, putting the Bearcats ahead with just two seconds remaining.  Forced to bring the ball up the entire court with only two seconds remaining, York settled for a half-court heave as time expired that was off the mark.
 
The game was extremely close throughout with 10 ties and nine lead changes.  Baruch held a narrow lead over the final minutes until York erased a three-point lead with about 30 seconds remaining.  Du'Quan Lawson hit a free throw and then missed the second, but York got the offensive rebound and eventually scored on a baseline lay-up from Cyril Reid to tie the score.  Baruch then broke the tie with Gittens jumper in the final seconds.
 
Reid had perhaps his best performance of the season wasted, as he finished with a game-high 21 points and ten rebounds.  Terell Roper had eight points and seven boards and Ryan St. John score nine points off the bench.  Lawson dished out 11 assists, while Jaron Williams, who was the star of York's quarterfinal win, was held to four points and three boards.
 
Gittens had a team-high 19 points and nine boards, while Chimaechi Ekekeugbor added 15 points.
 
York opened up an early 15-9 advantage midway through the opening half after a Reid jumper and two straight St. John buckets broke a 9-9 tie.  After Baruch cut the deficit to 18-15, the Bearcats went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-18 advantage with 2:28 left in the opening half.  York was able to cut the deficit to just four points at the half, after closing with buckets on three of its last four possessions.
 
At the start of the second half, Baruch went cold, scoring just three points in the first six minutes.  This allowed York to pull ahead, 33-31, following a Lawson three-pointer with 14:37 to go.  From there the two teams continued to trade leads until the final possession of the game.
 
With a record over .500, York is eligible for consideration into the Eastern College Athletic Conference postseason tournament, however it's unlikely they will receive a bid.  The seedings for the ECAC tournament will be announced on Monday, March 2.