NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - The Lehman men's basketball team could not overcome a 26-percent shooting effort on Saturday night, falling to John Jay College 65-58 at the Monroe Athletic Complex in New Rochelle.

Despite the loss, the Lightning clinched the North Division and will be seeded No. 3 in next weekend's City University of New York Athletic Conference Championship quarterfinal thanks to its 7-5 conference record.  The team will meet the defending champion Medgar Evers Cougars, who finished 5-6 in CUNYAC, for the second straight season. 

After taking a 30-26 advantage into halftime, the Lightning emerged from the locker room with a quick burst that added to the team's modest lead.  When Mathias Raggiotto knocked down a three-pointer 2:14 into the second stanza, the Lightning led 39-30.

John Jay slowly chipped away, though, whittling Lehman's lead to two points on a free throw by Swindon Charles.  Two possessions later, Jerome Alexander absorbed contact from Sebastian Pessoa while converting a layup that tied the game at 44.  His ensuing free throw gave the Bloodhounds their first lead since 16:50 mark of the first half.
Raggiotto briefly regained the lead for Lehman with a jumper, but a basket by Swindon followed by a three-pointer and free throw from Isaiah Holman pushed John Jay's lead to a modest five points, 51-46. 

On the next possession, Lehman's Kelvin Gil canned a jumper to draw the Lightning to within 51-48.  That basket, however, would end up being the last scored by the Lighting over the next seven minutes of action when George Nimmons ended the drought with a layup.

While the Blooodhounds didn't exactly fill it up down the stretch either, they did just enough to keep the Lightning at bay and hang on for the win.

Lehman was led by Raggiotto's 18 points (4-of-9 3pt FG) and also got 10 points and seven rebounds from Sebastian Pessoa.  In his final regular season CUNYAC contest, senior Dwight Nangle contributed eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.  Phil Ductan (12 points, 3-10 FG) also reached double figures.

John Jay's Alexander was the game's high scorer with 25 points.

The Lightning has one regular season game remaining, a non-conference tilt against Berkeley College (NJ) on Tuesday night before turning its attention to the CUNYAC Championships next weekend.