The Cardinals of York College defeated the Baruch Bearcats, 66-63, in a CUNYAC contest on Friday night in the ARC Arena.

The Bearcats led 57-47 with 6:22 remaining in the game, but the visiting Cardinals went on a 12-2 run to tie the game at 59-all with just under two minutes left.

York took a two-point lead (63-61) on a driving layup by William Holley, but on Baruch's next possession Lionel Hilairewas fouled and connected on two free throws to tie the contest at 63-all with 28 seconds left.

Holley scored again on a driving layup with 21 seconds remaining (65-63), but Baruch missed a shot on their next possession and Marcel Esonwune grabbed the rebound.York was quickly fouled and Kevin Lausell hit one-of-two free throws for the 66-63 advantage.

The Bearcats had the final shot in another Friday night contest that went down to the wire, but could not connect the tying three-pointer to suffer their fifth loss this season by three points or less.  

Hilaire led the Bearcats (11-9, 5-3 CUNYAC) this evening with 26 points and three assists, while Chris Beauchampfinished with 13 points and three steals. William Falkenhainergrabbed 10 rebounds.

The visiting Cardinals (5-13, 3-4 CUNYAC) shot 46 percent (26-57) from the field and won the battle inside the paint with a 44-20 scoring advantage behind the efforts of Esonwune with a double-double of 20 points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and three steals in 37 minutes of action.

Shamir Wilkinson scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Baruch will return to action on Monday, January 31, at 7:00 pm with a rescheduled (snow) CUNYAC contest on the road at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.