Brooklyn, NY---The #4 seeded Brooklyn College Bulldogs (15-11) pulled away from the #5York College Cardinals (9-17) in the second half, pulling away for the 80-69 victory.  The win earned Brooklyn their third straight trip to the CUNYAC / Con Edison Championship Semifinal Round, where they will face #1 Staten Island at CCNY this Wednesday, February 23rd at 6 pm.

The Bulldogs started the game on fire as six early Tyshawn Russell points sparked a 15-4 run to open the scoring.  After York cut the lead to nine, BC went on an 8-4 run, capped by an Amil John three-pointer, that gave his team their biggest lead of the hafl, 27-12.

The Cardinals seemed to hit their stride at that point, tightening their defense and getting some post scoring to go on a 28-12 run and take their first lead of the game on a Kevin Lausell three-point basket, a 42-40 advantage with 16 seconds remaining. 

Brooklyn's Darnell Cudjoe was fouled with 1 second left in the half and made both free throws to tie the game at 42 at the half.

To that point, the teams were even with 28 points in the paint a piece, but the Bulldogs took a 21-6 advantage in points off turnovers into the halftime break.

Tyshawn Russell started the second half scoring for Brooklyn, scoring a layup 1:06 into the period, giving his team a 44-42 advantage.  Brooklyn would never relinquish this lead as they tightened their defensive effort, holding York to just 18 points over the first 15:20 of the half.

Another Russell basket brought the Brooklyn lead to 12, 72-60, with 4:40 remaining.  York got consecutive baskets from Marcel Esonwune and William Holley to cut the deficit to eight, however Amil John answered with a driving layup and then picked Holley's pocket and scored another breakaway layup to extend the lead back to 12 and seal the victory.

"It was a good, hard-fought win," said BC Head Coach Steve Podias. "We are looking forward to returning to the semifinals."

Russell led Brooklyn with 23, while John dropped in 22, while nabbing a game-high 7 steals.  Ahmad Hemingway chipped in with 16 points, while Cudjoe also notched double figures with 10.

Keiran Halton got a rare start but came up big for the Bulldogs with four points, four assists and five steals.

Esonwune led York with game-highs of 28 points and 18 rebounds, but also had a game-high of eight turnovers. Shamir Wilkinson also had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

The Brooklyn College Men have now won seven consecutive CUNYAC / Con Edison Tournament games, dating back to 2009 .  Their last loss was in the 2008 Quarterfinal Round to City Tech.