MANHATTAN --- (www.YORKATHLETICS.com) York College men's basketball fell behind early and were unable to push past a first-half deficit Saturday afternoon, falling 84-60 to the Baruch College Bearcats (9-4, 5-0 CUNYAC) on the road in CUNYAC play from ARC Arena in Manhattan.

The Cardinals got off to a slow start and found themselves in a 13-point hole to open the game until Donald Hartley, Jr. sank a pair of free-throws to put York on the board 3:40 in.  York chipped away and pulled within four points as Hartley, Jr. knocked down two more free-throws to make it a 27-23 game with 5:03 showing on the first-half clock. Benjamim Boateng responded with a 3-pointer to ignite a 17-4 Bearcat run over the final 4:52 to take a commanding 44-27 lead into intermission.

Playing with a double-digit cushion for the final 21:20, Boateng opened the second-half scoring 42 seconds in with a 3-pointer to push Baruch's lead to 20.  York got as close as 16 points on three separate occasions before Baruch went on a 19-4 scoring spree to stretch its lead to a game-high 31 points (81-50) with 2:56 remaining.

York produced a trio of double-digit scorers, led by 17 points (10-of-13 FT) from Hartley, Jr., in addition to dishing out four assists.  Devine Chisholm put together a statline consisting of 14 points (4-of-8 FG, 4-of-4 FT), seven rebounds and two steals while Mambe Koureissi went for 14 points (6-of-12) and two blocks.  Jaye Bookhart added eight points (5-of-6 FT), three assists and two steals.

Boateng poured in a game-high 20 points (7-of-10 FG) to go with eight rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks for Baruch.  George Smyth Jr. scored 16 as Sean Donnellan and Jehmehl Fair tallied 13 and 12, respectively.  

York finished the contest shooting 32.7 percent from the field (17-of-52), 29.4 percent from 3-point range (5-of-17) and 72.4 percent from the free-throw line (21-of-29) as Baruch hit 50.8 percent from the floor (33-of-65), 42.3 percent from long distance (11-of-26) and 100 percent from the charity stripe (7-of-7).  Baruch outrebounded York by two (36-34), while the Cardinals netted nine second-chance points off nine offensive boards.  The Bearcats outplayed York in assists (25-10), blocks (6-2), steals (11-5), bench scoring (35-5) and points off turnovers (32-19).

The Cardinals (6-9, 2-3 CUNYAC) continue CUNYAC play Wednesday (Jan. 15) on the road inside The Doghouse against the John Jay College Bloodhounds (9-4, 3-1 CUNYAC) at 8 p.m. in Manhattan.

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