NEW YORK, N.Y.— The John Jay men's basketball team was defeated in overtime by Yeshiva University 66-62 at Furst Gym in Washington Heights Thursday evening.
The loss was the second of the year for John Jay who drop to 5-2 this season. Yeshiva University improves to 6-6 overall this season.
John Jay was led by Jamar Harry with 26 points, five rebounds and three steals. Isaiah Holman added 13 points and added three assists, while Korede Griffith had six rebounds and seven steals.
Yeshiva was led by Gil Bash with 20 points, while Benjy Ritholz had 15 points and seven rebounds. Dovie Hoffman added 14 points and seven rebounds.
In the first half the Bloodhounds were slow into transit. John Jay, who last played on Dec. 11, fell behind 37-19 at halftime before outscoring the Macabees 37-19 in the second stanza en route to going into overtime.
Yeshiva opened the game on a 20-4 run to take control of the contest. The Macabees led by as much as 21 in the opening period and led 31-10 with 4:24 to go. Yeshiva connected on 17-of-24 shots in the first half (70.8 percent) and outrebounded the Bloodhounds 21-8 through the first twenty minutes. Yeshiva outscored John Jay 24-12 on points in the paint in the opening stanza and earned 16 assists on the 17 made field goals.
In the second half, the Bloodhounds came alive and rapidly got back into the contest. John Jay opened the period by outscoring the Macabees 25-7 over the first 8:20 to erase the halftime deficit and tie the score at 44 with 11:40 remaining.
But Yeshiva managed to maintain the lead for nearly the next ten minutes. The Macabees extended their lead to as much as six later in the half as they led 54-48 with 6:56 to go.
The Bloodhounds however kept Yeshiva off the scoreboard the next six plus minutes and rallied off an 8-0 run to take its first lead since 2-0 in the first half. A reverse lay-up by Harry with 1:25 to play put the Bloodhounds on top. Then Darryl Dennis, who had six points, five assists and two blocks, went 1-for-2 from the free throw line with nineteen seconds left to put John Jay up 56-54.
Then a foul by John Jay with seventeen seconds left put Yeshiva at the line where the Macabees connected on 1-of-2 to cut the deficit to one.
Then with the shot clock off, the Macabees committed another foul. But the Bloodhounds missed the front end of a one-and-one with twelve second left giving Yeshiva the ball back.
A foul by the Bloodhounds with six seconds left put Yeshiva at the line again, where the Macabees went 1-of-2 to tie the game.
John Jay, with one final chance to win it in regulation, missed a three point attempt at the buzzer, forcing the game into overtime.
In the extra session, John Jay led by as much as three as the Bloodhounds led 60-57 with 3:13 to play. But Yeshiva used a 4-0 spurt to take a 61-60 lead with 1:53 to go. A Harry lay-up with 1:34 to go gave the Bloodhounds the lead back. But a three point field goal by the Macabees with 1:06 to play put Yeshiva up 64-62.
John Jay missed a three point field goal attempt in the closing seconds before the Macabees connected on a pair of free throws to go up by four and ice the game.
John Jay held a 12-6 advantage in points off the bench, and the Bloodhounds had a 36-34 edge on points in the paint. John Jay held an 18-15 advantage on points off turnovers.
John Jay returns to action on Saturday Dec. 29 for a game against Gallaudet University at the Louis Fleming Basinger Memorial Tournament at Lycoming College at 8 p.m.