BRONX, N.Y. – The Lehman College men's basketball team continued its winning ways by defeating CUNY Athletic Conference rival, City College, 68-51, in the APEX Main Gym, on Saturday afternoon. The Lightning have now won three games in a row.
It was a tight game early as Lehman (8-5, 3-2 CUNYAC) and City College (4-7, 0-5 CUNYAC) were tied at 19, with 8:32 left to play in the first half. Junior guard Edwin Diaz (Washington Heights, N.Y./Norman Thomas) broke the tie by laying the ball up and in to put the home team in the lead for good, 21-19, with 7:20 remaining in the opening stanza.
CCNY kept the game close for the majority of the first half, but the Lightning would eventually pull away, thanks to an 11-4 run in the last 4:52 of the half, capped off by a layup from freshman guard Andrew Utate (Washington Heights, N.Y./Mount Saint Michael Academy), to give Lehman a 36-27 lead going into intermission.
In the second half, junior forward Jerrome Jones (Bronx, N.Y./Mount Vernon) and senior guard Jonathan Greenfield (Hartford, Conn./Windsor) combined for back-to-back layups to start the second half to extend the Lightning's lead to 40-27.
After CCNY pulled to within eight, a successful jump shot from junior forward Chaun Miller (Brooklyn, N.Y./Eleanor Roosevelt) put the home team back up by double digits, with 16:26 remaining. CCNY would not cut the deficit to single digits for the remainder of the game, as Lehman dominated the rest of the way to earn their third conference win of the season.
Lightning head coach Steve Schulman was very pleased with his team's effort. "We played unselfish basketball today," Schulman said. "When we do that, we can become a very dangerous team."
Greenfield scored 13 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists, and blocked three shots. Sophomore forward Driton Hasangjekaj (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Jones added 10 points and grabbed six boards, while Miller scored nine and had four dimes. Freshman guard John Brens (Washington Heights, N.Y./All Hallows) dished out a game-high seven assists.
The Lightning will return to friendly confines of the APEX Main Gym on Friday, for a key CUNY Athletic Conference game against the College of Staten Island, at 7:30 p.m.
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