One point short.
The City College of New York men's basketball team (3-20 Overall, 1-10 CUNYAC) nearly rallied back from eight points down in the final 29 seconds of regulation, but it was Ray Rankis' Baruch College Bearcats (13-10 Overall, 7-4 CUNYAC) staying very much in the mix for a quarterfinal round home contest in the upcoming 2011 CUNYAC Men's Basketball Tournament, as Baruch held on to defeat the Beavers by a score of 60-59 at the Nat Holman Gymnasium in Upper Manhattan.
Prior to the game, the City College of New York Athletic Department took a few moments to honor seniors Brendan Barile and Vincent Roberts in a heartfelt pregame ceremony in which members of both players' families were invited down to the court to salute both student-athletes' hard work and dedication over the years.
With the loss, City College is officially eliminated from qualification for CUNY's postseason tournament, which starts on Sunday, February 20th. Following the loss, CCNY head coach Andy Stampfel gave his thoughts on the loss and the rest of the regular season.
"We fought hard tonight," Stampfel said. "We certainly didn't get out to the start we wanted to, but we had a four point lead with less than four minutes to go and I truly believed we had a good chance of pulling out a victory. It just wasn't in the cards for us tonight. This team has two games remaining, and we're going to try and play spoiler and change playoff positioning for our remaining opponents."
The Beavers trailed the game 14-13 with 8:49 left in the first half, and from there, Baruch went on a 12-0 run to push its lead to 26-13 over the ensuing eight minutes and 21 seconds. CCNY finally would score, as Idris Alford would nail two free throws with 30 seconds left in the session, and Hector Hernandez would steal the ensuing inbounds pass and lay it in for two. At the half, Baruch led 26-17.
CCNY came out a different team in the second half, starting out the session on a 17-6 run and taking a 34-32 lead with 12:23 remaining in the game. Both teams would battle back-and-forth, with City College eventually grabbing a 50-46 lead with 3:51 left, but that is where things began to go south for the Beavers. Baruch College would go on a 12-0 run over the next 3:22 to grab a 58-50 lead with 29 ticks remaining. A pair of missed free throws by the Bearcats, and a couple of treys by Hernandez and Roberts pulled CCNY to within four - 60-56 - with five seconds left. Roberts would then connect on a three-ball at the buzzer, but the cold-hard truth was on the scoreboard for City College: Bearcats 60, Beavers 59.
In the win for Baruch College, it was Lionel Hilare scoring a game-high 19 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds, and three steals, while Chris Beauchamp added 14 points and a pair of steals as well.
Despite the loss for CCNY, it was Barile playing very well on his senior night, scoring 14 points to go along with three rebounds and a pair of steals, and it was Kenny Rubenstein adding 14 points and four steals while pulling down three rebounds. Roberts completed the final home game of his three-year CCNY career with eight points, 13 rebounds, and two assists.
The Beavers will return to action Wednesday evening as CCNY will battle Hunter College in a CUNYAC contest, with start-time scheduled for 7:00pm.