The Baruch College Bearcats suffered a 72-64 defeat to the Cougars of Medgar Evers College in a CUNYAC home contest played on Tuesday night in the ARC Arena.

Prior to the game, the team honored seniors Jason Berlinerand Fuat Yaparfor their successful contributions to the men's basketball program.

Tonight's loss drops the Bearcats to 16-9 overall and 12-4 in CUNYAC, which is good for second place in the final regular season conference standings.

The second-seeded Bearcats will next host a CUNYAC quarterfinal round playoff game on Sunday, February 17, at 3:00 pm against seventh-seeded CCNY. The entire tournament schedule will be available late tomorrow afternoon following the CUNYAC Basketball Awards Luncheon at the Water Club Restaurant in lower Manhattan.

The Bearcats led 34-32 at halftime and started the second half with a layup by Granville Gittensfor a four point lead. The visiting Cougars would rally back and take the lead on a 3-pointer by Ricco Oliver for a 43-40 advantage.

The Bearcats responded with a 3-pointer by Raymond De La Cruzto tie it up, but the Cougars scored 12 of the next 16 points to lead 55-47 with five minutes left.

The Bearcats kept battling and managed to get close at 57-55 on a layup by Fuat Yapar, but the Cougars scored the next nine points to put the game out of reach for their second consecutive road victory in the ARC Arena.

The Bearcats shot 45.5 percent in the first half (15-for-33), but struggled in the second half shooting only 37.9 percent (10-for-33), which included 2-for-10 from 3-point range.

De La Cruz led the team this evening with a career-high 27 points, eight rebounds and one steal. Matas Rasciuswas the only other double-figure scorer with 12 points (5-10 fg).

Michael Taylor led the Cougars with 18 points (6-19 fg).