JAMAICA, NY --- York College men's basketball rallied late but were unable to overcome a 26-point deficit Monday evening to open their three-game homestand with a 76-64 non-conference loss to the Keystone College Giants (2-15) inside York College Gymnasium.
The Cardinals (5-12) fell behind by five to start the game before
Taishaun Forehand-Jenkins' three-pointer ignited a 7-0 run to give York a 7-5 lead with 17 minutes remaining in the half. Keystone answered with seven-straight points to take a 12-7 advantage at the 15:21 mark. Leading 20-17, the Giants went on a 15-0 scoring spree to build an 18-point cushion (35-17) with 4:55 left in the half. Moments later, Keystone went up by 19 before taking a 41-24 lead into intermission.
After trailing by 22 points (53-31),
Devine Chisholm scored five-straight points to cap a 9-0 Cardinal spurt to make it a 13-point game with 13:01 remaining in the second half. The Giants responded with a key 24-5 run over a span of 8:17 to stretch its lead to a game-high 26 points (74-48). York then closed out the game shooting 7-of-10 from the field to outscore Keystone 16-2 over the final 4:29 to trim its deficit to 12 at the sound of the final buzzer.
Akil Vaughn scored eight of his game-high 16 points (8-of-11) in the closing minutes to pace York. Chisholm followed with 12 points to go along with game highs of nine rebounds and seven assists.
Darin Dove added seven points, five rebounds and four assists while Forehand-Jenkins finished with eight points (2-of-2 3FG).
Jalen Flynn and Javonte Matthews both scored 14 points to lead Keystone to victory. Jeremy Jordan totaled 13 points, three blocks and three steals as Austin Smith chipped in 11 points.
In the end, York fired away at a rate of 42.9 percent (27-of-75) from the field, 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from three-point territory and 62.5 percent (5-of-8) from the free-throw line. Keystone shot 41.2 percent (28-of-68) from the floor, 29.4 percent (10-of-34) from long distance and 76.9 percent (10-of-13) from the charity stripe. The Cardinals won the boards battle, 48-43, and scored 19 second chance points off 17 offensive rebounds. York outscored Keystone 36-32 in the paint while the Giants netted 21 points off 18 Cardinals turnovers and held the advantage in assists (19-14), blocks (4-1), steals (9-2), fastbreak points (11-7) and bench scoring (27-17).
York (1-7 CUNYAC) remains at home Friday (Jan. 18) for a CUNYAC showdown against the Hunter College Hawks (4-11, 2-6 CUNYAC) at 7:30 p.m. The Cardinals will make a push for a spot in the CUNYAC Championship by playing five of their final eight regular-season games in Jamaica.
