With 14:43 remaining in the second half, Lehman head coach Steve Schulman was hot on the sideline.

His team had just pulled to within three points of the State University of New York Institute of Technology on a three-pointer by Alain De La Cruz, but something had gone missing from his Lightning team – energy.

Huddled in the timeout, Schulman challenged his players to up their intensity level, get into their men on the defensive end, and reassert themselves in the same manner that had allowed them to build an 18-5 first half lead.

The result was a marked difference in the Lightning's second half play going forward and a 75-67 win over the visiting SUNYIT Wildcats in the Third Annual CUNY Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

Following Schulman's emotional plea, two plays displayed the Lightning's new commitment. First, a hustle block by Samuel Batista following a steal by SUNYIT's Calvin Logins; then, an all out dive by Jonathan DeJesus in front of the scorer's table to gain possession of a loose ball and call timeout.

Out of Lehman's 30-second timeout, the teams traded empty possessions before Logins nailed a jumper to put SUNYIT up 47-44. Enric Martinez knocked down a jumper of his own from the right baseline to draw Lehman back within one point, setting the stage for Alain De La Cruz's go-ahead three-pointer with 12:06 remaining. De La Cruz then stole the ball from Cappiello and found Martinez for a three-pointer that gave the Lightning the 52-47 lead and forced a timeout from SUNYIT head coach Kevin Grimmer.

The Lightning pushed its advantage to as many as eight points over the next several minutes, before SUNYIT narrowed the gap to 64-61 on two free throws by Julian Bostick. However, Samuel Batista's clutch three-pointer, his first of the game, pushed the Lightning lead back to 67-61. From there, Lehman was able to close out the Wildcats from the free throw line.

In the game's early going, it seemed as if Lehman would hand an early knockout blow to the Wildcats, D3Hoops.com's preseason No. 18-ranked team, as the Wildcats were coming off a game Saturday night versus Morrisville. But SUNYIT did not fold despite Lehman's early 18-5 lead, instead battling back behind 10 points from Logins.

When Alex Grimmer canned a three-pointer to make the score 27-25, the Wildcats had officially erased Lehman's lead. Baskets by Chukwuma Ndukwe, Batista and DeJesus allowed the Lightning to take the 33-30 lead into halftime, however.

In the win, Lehman was led by Batista, who scored a game-high 21 points but was erratic from the field throughout. DeJesus posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Lightning also received major contributions from its bench, with Martinez dropping in nine big points, Dwight Nangle serving as the sparkplug defensively, and Quaseem Weems and Ratique Young providing long distance shooting.

Lehman is back in action on Friday night when it hosts William Paterson University in its final game before the Christmas break.