The City College of New York men's basketball team (2-17 Overall, 0-7 CUNYAC) dropped a conference game on Wednesday evening, falling to the Yellow Jackets of New York City College of Technology (2-16 Overall, 1-7 CUNYAC) by a score of 72-55 at the Klitgord Center in Brooklyn, NY.
In what turned out to be a wild first half of action, the Yellow Jackets came out of the gate hitting on all cylinders, racing out to an 8-0 lead just 2:42 into the contest. The Beavers responded well, going on a 9-0 run over the following 2:56 to grab a 9-8 lead. City Tech would then respond with an 11-2 run to go get its eight point advantage back and take a 19-11 lead, but a 10-3 CCNY spurt cut the Beaver deficit to one, at 22-21 with 5:48 remaining in the opening session.
The teams continued to battle back and forth, but City College was never able to get the lead back in the first half despite keeping things close. The Yellow Jackets kept CCNY at a minimal distance, and eventually jogged into the locker room with a modest four point lead - 31-27.
In the second half, a strong 8-4 run to start the period helped the Beavers knot the game at 35 apiece, but that is when things began to go south for CCNY. A 28-8 run over a 14:37 span essentially all but wrapped things up, as the Yellow Jackets went up by a score of 63-43, and eventually cruised to a 17-point victory.
In the win for the Yellow Jackets, it was Nethaniel Young putting forth a game-high 24 points on nine-of-20 shooting to go along with five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 37 minutes of action. Curlon McNeil posted a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three assists, a pair of blocks, and two steals, and Phillip Joseph added 10 points and six rebounds.
Despite the loss for CCNY, sharp-shooting Matas Rascius connected on eight of his 12 attempts from the floor and tallied a team-high 16 points to go along with eight rebounds and a pair of steals, and Brendan Barile helped with 11 points and three rebounds as well. Vincent Roberts played 33 minutes and finished with six points and seven caroms.
The Yellow Jackets shot 41.8 percent from the field (28-67), while the Beavers hit on just 33.8 percent of their shots (22-65). New York City Tech out-rebounded City College by a margin of 53-35, and the Yellow Jackets won the turnover battle slightly, recording 18 miscues compared to 21 for the Beavers.
City College will return to action on Saturday evening as the Beavers will battle the Brooklyn College Bulldogs in a CUNYAC contest at the Nat Holman Gymnasium, with start-time scheduled for 5:00pm.