With a string of seven consecutive CUNYAC games beginning on Friday there was no time like the present for the Lehman Lightning to set a positive tone for the tough road ahead.

Following an 83-55 blowout win over John Jay, you could say things are looking rosy with one game now complete as Lehman was ready to play from the start.

Jonathan DeJesus's breakaway slam punctuated a 13-0 run that gave the Lightning the 14-5 lead after the Bloodhounds had taken a quick 5-1 advantage. Then on back-to-back Lehman possessions, DeJesus and Alain De La Cruz drained three-pointers to put the Lightning up 20-10 with 13:54 to go.

The Lighting was able to take a 40-27 lead into the half thanks in part to DeJesus' 13 points and eight rebounds and energetic play off the bench from Victor Garcia, Quaseem Weems and Dwight Nangle.

Not content to sit on its lead at the intermission, the Lightning instead kept the pedal down in the second half to put the game away which was perhaps the most encouraging part of the victory in the eyes of head coach Steve Schulman.

"I was happy with our preparation and the way we started the game," said Schulman. "But I was even happier with our second half intensity. We maintained our focus and continued to play good basketball."

After an off first half in which he shot 3-of-8 from the field, Lehman sharpshooter Samuel Batista became more of a factor in the second stanza. Batista's first basket out of the half increased the Lightning lead to 44-27, but it was his next that really got the crowd energized as he made a tough catch in transition off a lob from Alain De La Cruz and converted despite being knocked to the floor by Jamar Harry. Batista canned the ensuing free throw and the Lightning led 47-27.

The highlights continued to pile up for the Lightning as the half wore on. DeJesus was on the receiving end of a nifty touch pass from Weems that led to a layup and foul to push the lead to 56-34 in favor of the Lightning before Chukwuma Ndukwe's emphatic fastbreak dunk allowed Coach Sculman to empty the bench with Lehman leading 71-46 and 4:29 remaining.

In the win Batista scored a game-high 23 points while DeJesus continues to rack up the double-doubles as he totaled 19 points and 15 rebounds. Ndukwe added 10 boards of his own and Weems provided a spark off the bench with 10 points.

A true litmus test lies ahead for the Lightning as it has four days to prepare for its big CUNYAC showdown with Baruch College on January 12th in the Bronx.

So far, one down, six more to go.