Brooklyn, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Basketball team led from the opening tip and never trailed in the game, as the Bulldogs upended the Bearcats of Baruch College, 74-58, in a key City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) matchup on Monday night at the West Quad Center.

With the win, the Bulldogs extend their winning streak to four straight and improve to 9-12 overall on the season and 7-6 in the CUNYAC, as Brooklyn keeps its hopes of locking up a top-four seed in the upcoming CUNYAC Championships alive. Baruch drops to 15-7 overall on the year and 11-3 in conference play. The loss also snaps the Bearcats seven game winning streak.

The win also evens the season series between the two schools, as Brooklyn avenges its loss to Baruch back on January 8th, when the Bearcats defeated the Bulldogs, 74-63, at the ARC Arena on the campus of Baruch.

Brooklyn jumped out to an early 6-0 lead to start off the game, as seniors Kavon Baker and Jeffrey Noel each drilled a three-pointer. The Bulldogs would extend their lead to as many as 12 on two occasions, as the Bearcats would spend the rest of the half chipping away at its deficit. Baruch would get to within one, 25-24, at the 1:22 mark of the opening half, after Rob Goldstien converted all three of his free throw attempts after being fouled on a three-point attempt.

That's as close as the Bearcats would get, as Brooklyn would head into the halftime break up 27-24.

The start of the second half featured much of the same, as the Bulldogs continued to hold on their slim lead.

Following a three-point play from Baruch's Granville Gittens that cut the Bearcats deficit to one once again, 32-31, with 15:57 remaining in the ballgame, the Bulldogs used a quick 9-0 run over the next minute to build their lead back to double figures, 41-31, at the 14:49 mark of the second half. Brooklyn's defensive intensity helped fuel the run, as the Bulldogs netted six points off of three key Baruch turnovers.

The Bearcats would be unable to recover from its deficit as the Bulldogs would retain its double digit lead for much of the remainder of the night. Brooklyn would go ahead by as many as 20, 72-52, with just 50 ticks left on the clock, as the Bulldogs would cruise on to its 74-58 victory.

Baker led all scorers with 26 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field, including going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and 8-for-10 from the line, while also adding five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Noel finished the night with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field, while going 3-for-4 from three and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Noel also grabbed six rebounds. Freshman Egzon Gjonbalaj, who was recently named the CUNAYC Rookie of the Week for the second straight week, continued his strong play with 13 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Freshman Shayne Martinez and senior Steven Grant played solid minutes off the bench for Brooklyn, as Martinez chipped in with five points, five assists, four steals and seven rebounds, while Grant contributed with six boards as the Bulldogs won the battle of the glass, 39-23.

As a team, Brooklyn racked up 13 steals to force Baruch into 21 turnovers, which led to 27 points for the home team, including 18 points off of turnovers in the second half.

For the game, the Bulldogs shot 45.6% (26-57) from the field, 37.5% (6-16) from three and 66.7% (16-24) from the charity stripe.

The Bearcats shot 46.8% (22-47) from the field, 30.0% (6-20) from downtown and 72.7% (8-11) from the line.

Brooklyn will be back in action this Wednesday, February 6th, as the Bulldogs will be on the road to take on the Bloodhounds of John Jay College of Criminal Justice (13-10, 9-5 CUNYAC) in another key CUNYAC tilt. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm at the Doghouse on the campus of John Jay. A win over the Bloodhounds will put Brooklyn and John Jay in a tie for third place in the conference standings. John Jay defeated Brooklyn, 78-73, back on January 12th at the West Quad Center.