A furious Lehman rally over the final 50 seconds fell short on Wednesday night as the Lightning dropped to .500 in the City University of New York Athletic Conference, losing to visiting City College of New York 73-71.

Trailing 68-60, George Nimmons canned a jumper followed by a three-pointer by Samuel Batista to pull the Lightning within three points at 68-65. Nimmons foul on the next possession sent Israel Vickers to the line where he connected on one of two to push the lead back to four points. A basket by Victor Garcia cut the deficit to two, but was answered by Vickers who canned both freebies given a second chance at the line to once again put the Beavers up four, 71-67.

On the next possession Garcia calmly sank two free throws of his own as the Lightning crept back to 71-69. Immediately following Garcia's makes, Nimmons recovered a loose ball off the Beavers' inbounds and converted to knot the game at 71. However, with the pro Lehman crowd in near hysterics, the Lightning lost track of a streaking Brendan Barile, who broke free down court where he was found by Matas Rascius for a wide open layup.

The Lightning had an opportunity to tie but could not convert as the buzzer sounded to officially put an end to CCNY's 18-game losing streak.

From the outset the Beavers came ready to play as they led for a majority of the first half behind a balanced scoring attack and strong play down low from Rascius (6 points, 9 rebounds). It did not help Lehman's cause that it could not find the range from the floor as the Lightning shot 9-for-26, which included just 3-of-15 from the three-point line.

Despite its futility from the field, the Lightning managed to put together a 10-0 run, helped in part by two three-pointers by Alain De La Cruz, over a four minute span that turned a 20-17 deficit into a 27-17 lead. A final layup by Rascius provided the 27-22 halftime margin.

The Lightning maintained its lead through nearly nine minutes of the second half until Barile connected on a three-pointer to give CCNY a 42-40 lead. The Beavers edge got as high as nine points at 63-54 before the game's theatrics in the final minutes.

Rascius finished his fine performance as the game's leading scorer and rebounder with 20 points and 14 boards. He was one of four players in double figures for the Beavers with Vickers (17 points), Kenny Rubenstein (14 points) and Barile (11 points) also in double digits.

For the Lightning, Garcia was high man with 19 points, followed by Batista (18 points) and Nimmons (11 points).

Lehman returns to action for a huge CUNYAC matchup on Friday when it travels to Baruch College to face a Bearcats team no doubt looking for revenge for their previous 85-68 loss to the Lightning.