JAMAICA, NY  --- (www.YORKATHLETICS.com) York College men's basketball held off a late charge from the City College of New York Beavers (0-13, 0-4 CUNYAC) Wednesday evening to prevail with an 80-77 CUNYAC triumph for their third-straight win inside York College Gymnasium.  

In a first half that featured nine lead changes and three ties, York went on a 10-0 scoring spree to erase a four-point deficit for a 19-13 advantage with 11:45 left.  Playing with the lead since the 12:48 mark, Donald Hartley, Jr. drilled a 3-pointer to go up by six with 1:30 showing on the first-half clock. The Beavers outscored York by four in the final 1:06 capped by Isaiah Denard's trey to slice CCNY's deficit to two (36-34) at the break.

Mambe Koureissi scored five of York's seven points during a spurt that saw the Cardinals tally seven-unanswered points to build a 57-45 lead with 13:29 remaining.  CCNY made it an eight-point game 49 seconds later before Hartley, Jr. scored four-straight points and Jaye Bookhart delivered the exclamation point with a 3-pointer to push the lead to a game-high 13 points (64-51) with 8:50 left.  The Beavers would outscore York by a count of 24-13 during a stretch of 6:57 to pull within two points (77-75) at the 1:45 mark.  Devine Chisholm sank a trio of free-throws in the final 1:26 to increase York's lead to five (80-75).  Following a Denard layup with 10 seconds remaining, and a Hartley, Jr. turnover on the ensuing possession, Bookhart came up with a key block on Yassine Sakhi's attempt from deep to preserve the win.  

Bookhart tied a career-high by pouring in 23 points (8-of-18 FG, 3-of-3 FT) on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range to lead all scorers.  Koureissi used 17 points (7-of-12 FG), 14 rebounds and two blocks to post his sixth double-double of the season.  Chisholm collected 15 points, eight assists, five rebounds and one steal while Hartley, Jr. went for 12 points, nine assists (career-high), eight rebounds and one steal.  Akil Vaughn added nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks before fouling out.  

Sakhi finished with 22 points (8-of-19 FG) to pace CCNY.  Denard and Romello Rashad each scored 20 points and pulled down 14 and 12 rebounds, respectively.  Daniel Piszczatowski netted 10 points.

In the end, York fired away at 38.9 percent from the field (28-of-72), 30.4 percent from 3-point territory (7-of-23) and 60.7 percent from the free-throw line (17-of-28) compared to CCNY hitting 42.3 percent from the floor (30-of-71), 31.8 percent from deep (7-of-22) and 50 percent from the charity stripe (10-of-20).  The Cardinals won the boards battle, 53-46, and scored 18 second-chance points off 20 offensive rebounds. Both teams drew even in points in the paint (32-32) as York held the edge in blocks (6-2). CCNY outplayed York in assists (24-23), steals (4-2) and points off turnovers (19-11).

The Cardinals (6-8, 2-2 CUNYAC) hit the road Saturday (Jan. 11) for a CUNYAC road matchup inside ARC Arena against the Baruch College Bearcats (8-4, 4-0 CUNYAC) starting at 4 p.m. in Manhattan.  

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