NEW YORK, N.Y.— The John Jay men's basketball team shot 53.8 percent (14-for-26) in the second half en route to shrugging off a slow start as the Bloodhounds beat St. Joseph's College – Brooklyn 79-68 in a non-conference game at the Doghouse Saturday evening.
 
The win ups the Bloodhounds record to 11-5 this season, while St. Joseph's-Brooklyn is now 9-8.
 
John Jay was slow out of the gate. After taking a 2-0, lead the Bloodhounds trailed nearly the rest of the first half after that. John Jay never took another lead until under a minute and a half to go when the Bloodhounds went ahead 31-30. Meanwhile the visiting Bears led by as much as seven in the first half, and St. Joseph's-Brooklyn led 26-19 with 6:35 to go.
 
John Jay, who shot in the mid twenty percent range for a large portion of the first half, started to gather buckets in the latter stages of the period to raise its shooting clip to 37.1 percent (13-for-35) before halftime. The Bloodhounds scored on seven of their final nine possessions of the first half to erase any deficit as the game was tied at 34 at halftime.
 
The Bears scored the first basket of the second half to retake a two point lead. But the lead was the final one St. Joseph's-Brooklyn would have as John Jay answered with a 10-1 run to take a 44-37 lead with just over five minutes gone by.
 
The Bloodhounds kept the Bears at arms-length distance the rest of the way en route to the win. John Jay led by as much as 13 in the final period and was up by that amount at the 8:39 point of the contest.
 
St. Joseph's-Brooklyn pulled to within five points of the lead on two occasions, but the Bloodhounds answered each time to maintain a comfortable lead to the finish.
 
The Bloodhounds were led in scoring by Isaiah Holman and Darryl Dennis with 19 points each. Holman's 19 now gives him 968 in his career, leaving him 32 points from becoming the tenth player in John Jay men's basketball history to reach the milestone.  In Saturday's win, Holman shot 4-for-5 from three point range and had five rebounds. Dennis added six rebounds and seven steals. Jamar Harry had a solid game with 14 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Swindon Charles was 4-for-4 from the field for eight points with 13 rebounds and five blocks.
 
St. Joseph's-Brooklyn was led by David Ortiz with 16 points, while Vernon Maddox chipped in with 10.
 
John Jay is back in action on Mon. Jan. 21 for its final non-conference game of the season at William Paterson University at 2 p.m.