NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Lehman College men's basketball team saw its CUNY Athletic Conference Championship run come to an end, as the #3 Lightning fell to #2 Brooklyn in the CUNYAC Semifinals, 80 -70, at the Nat Holman Gym on the campus of the City College of New York, on Wednesday evening. The Bulldogs will take on #1 Baruch College in the Championship game, on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The Bearcats defeated #5 York College, 52-50, in the other semifinal game. The Lightning will now wait for a potential bid into the ECAC N.Y./N.J. Metro Championships. The announcement of the participating teams will take place on Monday evening, March 2.
The Lightning (18-9) got off to a quick start, as back-to-back baskets from junior forward Chaun Miller (Brooklyn, N.Y./Eleanor Roosevelt) gave Lehman an early 10-4 lead, less than four minutes into the contest.
After Brooklyn (22-5) scored to pull within 10-6, Lehman would get the momentum back, by scoring 14 of the game's next 20 points. The run was capped off by a three-point basket from junior forward Jerrome Jones (Bronx, N.Y./Mount Vernon), that gave the Lightning a commanding 24-12 lead, with 13:44 left to play in the opening half. Jones continued to be a factor, as he was able to nail a jumper, while being triple-teamed, to put Lehman up, 30-16.
After the Bulldogs rallied to shrink Lehman's lead to 30-25, Miller dished out a quick pass to senior guard Jonathan Greenfield (Hartford, Conn./Windsor) who laid the ball up and in to put the Lightning back up by seven, with 5:53 remaining in the first half.
Brooklyn made a run to pull within one, but Greenfield countered with a jump shot to put Lehman back up, 41-38, with under two minutes remaining until halftime.
Lehman had the ball in the closing seconds of the half. Brens dribbled the ball down the court, fed it to Greenfield, who laid it up and in at the buzzer, to send the Lightning into the locker room with a 48-41 lead. The Hartford resident scored the period's last five points, and tallied 16 points in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Bulldogs took over by scoring 11 unanswered points, in a span of 2:37 to take a 59-52 lead, with 11:26 left to play. Down by 11, Greenfield would get Lehman back in it, as his three-pointer shrunk the deficit to 64-56, with 9:21 left to go in regulation. From that point on, the Bulldogs scored the game's next six points, to complete the 22-4 run that took place in a span of 7:55, and put the number two seed up, 70-56, with 6:08 left.
That run put the game out of reach for the Lightning, as they fell by a score of 80-70.
Greenfield led all scorers with 29 points, while grabbing eight rebounds, and blocking three shots. Miller recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jones scored 14 points and had seven rebounds, while Brens scored eight and dished out seven assists.