The City College of New York men's basketball team (2-3 Overall, 0-1 CUNYAC) lost a hard-fought game with Lehman College (2-3 Overall, 1-0 CUNYAC), falling to the Lightning by a score of 73-61 Tuesday evening at the Nat Holman Gymnasium in Upper Manhattan. The game was knotted at 49 apiece with just over eight minutes to play, and Lehman finished the game by out-scoring the Beavers 24-12 to nab the conference opener of the 2010-2011 season.
The Lightning's biggest lead of the game came when Lehman College led by a score of 31-20 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half. CCNY began to chip away at that advantage, and the Beavers would pull to within seven points – 35-28 – as the team's entered the locker room at halftime. In the second half, the CCNY started the session on a 16-7 run and eventually took a two point lead – 44-42 – when Brendan Barile would connect on a three-point shot with 12:36 left in the game. A 7-1 run would put Lehman College back up by four points – 49-45 – with just over 10 minutes to play.
The back-and-forth battle continued from there as CCNY would then get baskets from Matas Rascius and Barile to tie the game at 49. From there though, Lehman College would take control of the game, putting forth its 24-12 run to finish the game.
In the victory for the Lightning, it was standout Samuel Batista leading the way for his team with a tremendous effort as he led all scorers with 21 points on the evening, hitting on eight of his 13 shots and blocking a game-high five shots. He also grabbed four rebounds as well. George Nimmons provided a spark off of the bench for his club, draining four shots and accounting for 13 points while pulling down four rebounds and dishing three assists.
Despite the loss for the Beavers, senior Vince Roberts scored a team-high 16 points, hitting on six of his 12 attempts from the field and grabbing five rebounds and dishing two assists. Big man Matas Rascius scored 12 points and snatched seven rebounds while tallying two steals. Barile added 10 points and three rebounds.
In the tightly-contested game, the primary difference was Lehman College's consistency with its shooting. The Lightning connected on 51 percent of their shots (25-49), while the Beavers hit in just 34.4 percent of theirs (34.4). The turnover battle was almost even, with the Lightning committing 25 miscues compared to 23 for the Beavers, and CCNY held a 37-36 edge in the carom department.
The Beavers will look to snap their three-game losing streak on Thursday when the team travels to Baruch College's ARC Arena to battle the Baruch College Bearcats, with start-time scheduled for 7:30pm.