JAMAICA, N.Y.— Led by a 36-point effort from Michael Taylor, Medgar Evers College pulled out a 75-74 win over the York College men's basketball team, spoiling the Cardinals' senior day on Sunday afternoon.
Taylor scored 22 of his 36 points in the second half, including making several key free throws down the stretch. He was 12-of-20 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range.
Du'Quan Lawson had the best game of his two-year career for York, surpassing his career high in points that he just set one game earlier. He finished with 17 points, which included five three-pointers, while also handing out eight assists. Tony Vails finished with a team-high 24 points and nine boards for York and Shamir Wilkinson chipped in eight points and seven boards. Donald Rodriguez also had nine points off the bench.
The loss for York means the Cardinals will have to go on the road for the first round of next weekend's CUNYAC playoffs. They can finish no higher than sixth in the conference standings.
At halftime of the game, York seniors Vails, Wilkinson and Michael Trowers were honored for their contributions to the York College program. With no chance of a home playoff game, it will be the final home game in their York careers.
The game was a nail biter throughout. Medgar Evers' most comfortable lead came midway through the first half when an 11-0 run helped turn a tie game into a 22-11 advantage for the Cougars. Three pointers by Ricco Oliver and Winston Douglas on consecutive possessions highlighted the run for Medgar Evers.
York got back into the game though after scoring on five straight possessions that included three, three-three pointers by Lawson and a pair of made lay-ups by Vails. The 13-5 run, closed the gap for York to 27-22. The Cardinals would then rally to tie the at 35-35 game a few minutes later. But the Cougars would finish the first-half scoring with a jumper by Michael Taylor and dunk by Winston Douglas to take a 39-35 lead at halftime.
The second half continued to be a battle as the two teams went back and forth the rest of the game. A key stretch for the Cougars came on a 12-5 run that was sparked by the play of Taylor who scored ten of those points, including two buckets from beyond the arc to make the score 71-63 in favor of the Cougars.
York regrouped though, scoring seven unanswered to make it 71-70. A three-pointer by Jose Arroyo cut the deficit to four points. Then a flagrant foul on Medgar Evers led to four points for York. Vails made two free throws and then Arroyo put in an easy lay-up on the ensuing inbounds pass. Both teams then traded a pair of free throws to keep it a one-point game with a minute to go.
On Medgar Evers' next possession it was Taylor who came through again, drawing a foul and hitting both free throws to put the Cougars up by three. Vails came down court to hit a contested lay-up to cut it back to one and then the Cardinals fouled Medgar to stop the clock with five seconds left.
The Cougars' Jovan Deare missed the front end of the one-and-one and York came up with the rebound with just three seconds left. After a timeout, Donald Rodriguez took the inbounds pass and launched a desperation shot from half court but it was off the mark and the Cougars pulled out the win.
Medgar Evers improves to 11-13 and 7-8 in the CUNY Athletic Conference. York drops to 10-14, 6-9 in the CUNYAC. The Cardinals will close out the 2012-13 regular season on the road at Lehman College on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Live stats are available for the game.