The Baruch College Bearcats suffered a disappointing 71-66 home defeat to the Bloodhounds of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the annual "Battle of Lexington" game played on Thursday night in a crowded ARC Arena.

This season has seen a majority of the Baruch games in the CUNYAC decided in the final minute and that was the case yet again this evening as fans were treated to another exciting contest.

The Bearcats led by two points (28-26) at halftime by using their strong rebounding advantage (24-15 at halftime) to power their way to the intermission lead.

During the second half, John Jay broke a tie (52-52) with 7:09 left with a free throw by Charles Swindon and a 3-pointer by Kevin Philius to take a 56-52 advantage. The Bearcats consistently battled back and managed to get as close as one point (61-60), but John Jay scored the next four points to lead 65-60 with 32 seconds left. That was enough to walk away with the victory to excite their traveling fans.

Chris Beauchampled the Bearcats with 22 points by shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Granville Gittensscored a career-high 13 points (6-10 fg) and missed a double-double with nine rebounds and three steals. Calvin Jurewicz-Johnsonhad a solid all-around game again with eight points and 10 rebounds. Justin Girylukfinished with six points and eight rebounds.

As a result of the loss, that sets up the most important game of the season on Saturday afternoon against rival Hunter College with significant implications with regards to seeding in the CUNYAC Tournament and a possible playoff home game next weekend. Tip off in the ARC Arena is scheduled for the recently updated time of 4:00 pm.

Prior to the start of the game this evening, the team honored seniors Chris Beauchamp, Mickey Abbatiello, Justin Giryluk and Calvin Jurewicz-Johnson with their families in an emotional ceremony to honor their careers as solid students in the classroom and hard-working athletes on the court.