Gwynedd Valley, Pa.— The John Jay men's basketball team exploded for 50 second half points to turn a five point halftime deficit into a runaway win as the Bloodhounds beat Gwynedd Mercy College 85-77 in a rematch of the season opener on Thursday evening.
 
The win improves the Bloodhounds to 3-1 overall this season, while Gwynedd Mercy falls to 1-3 (0-2 against John Jay) on the year.
 
The Bloodhounds had a huge performance by Jamar Harry with a near quadruple- double. The junior swingman had a game-high 20 points (on 6-for-11 from the floor and 8-for-11 from the free throw line) and added seven rebounds, seven assists and seven steals. Meanwhile Gary Brady came off the bench and had 14 points in the win. Kris Owens and Swindon Charles added 10 apiece in the victory.
 
Despite the halftime deficit, John Jay led most of the opening stanza. The Bloodhounds led by as much as six early in the first half and were up for the first fourteen plus minutes of the game. With John Jay ahead 21-15 with 9:52 to play, the host Griffiths went on a 19-7 run to take a five point lead and led 34-28 with 3:56 to play.
 
Gwynedd Mercy kept the lead the remainder of the first half and went into halftime ahead 40-35.
 
John Jay opened the second half on an 11-1 run to retake the lead. But the game was far from over as the final stanza saw six ties and seven lead changes.  John Jay finally took the lead for good with 6:13 left on a continuation three point basket by Korede Griffith who had six points. His lay-up ignited an 8-0 run that gave John Jay a 69-61 advantage with 4:18 left to play.
 
The Bloodhounds continued to increase the lead late and took their biggest lead of the night of 13 with 1:08 to play on a lay-up by Darryl Dennis who had nine points total. The Bloodhounds coasted from there en route to their first winning streak of the season.
 
The Griffiths had nearly twice as many turnovers as John Jay, giving up possession 31 times to 16 for the Bloodhounds. John Jay capitalized by outscoring the hosts 30-11 on points off turnovers. The highly athletic Bloodhounds also had a 14-2 advantage on fast break points.
 
John Jay is back in action on Saturday for a home contest against conference foe Baruch College at 6 p.m.