New York, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Basketball team suffered an 85-74 loss against the Bearcats of Baruch College on Saturday afternoon in City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) play at the ARC Arena.

With the loss, Brooklyn drops to 12-3 overall on the season and 5-2 in the CUNYAC, while Baruch remains perfect in conference action at 6-0 to improve to 9-3 overall on the year.

The Bulldogs would seize control of the game early on, leading by as many as 10, 17-7, with 13:46 left before the halftime horn. From that point forward, the Bearcats would chip away at their deficit and eventually take their first lead of the game on a three-pointer from Chimaechi Ekekeugbor that put Baruch up by one, 24-23, with 6:19 on the clock.

Brooklyn would eventually regain the lead on a layup from Jamel Gist to put the visitors up by one, 29-28, with 4:36 remaining in the half; however, Baruch would go on to take a slim one point, 33-32, halftime lead.

The Bearcats would keep the Bulldogs at bay throughout the second half, as Baruch used a hot shooting hand going 16-for-30 (53.3%) from the field, including 6-for-10 (60.0%) from beyond the arc. The home team also went to the free throw line 17 times, converting 14 attempts (82.4%), en route to outscoring Brooklyn by 10 in the second period, 52-42, propelling Baruch to the 85-74 win.

The Bulldogs were led by the duo of Valon Djombalic and Egzon Gjonbalaj, scoring 23 points each. Djombalic also pulled down nine rebounds, while Gjonbalaj added six rebounds and four assists. Lorenzo Williams nearly recorded a triple-double, finishing the game with 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, to go along with eight assists.

Enees Nikovic grabbed nine rebounds coming off the bench to help Brooklyn out-rebound Baruch, 53-42, including 27-9 on the offensive glass, which led to a 20-13 advantage in second chance points for the visitors. The Bulldogs also outscored the Bearcats 38-24 in the paint.

Baruch's Raymond De La Cruz led all scorers with 27 points doing most of his damage from three, where he went 7-for-9. He also added six rebounds and three assists to his stat line. Granville Gittens finished with 17 points and six rebounds, while Ekekeugbor ended the day with 13 points off the bench. Edward Roscigno registered a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists, to go with five rebounds. Brian McMahon pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, to go with six points.

For the game, Brooklyn shot 35.0% (28-for-80) from the field, including just 25.0% (5-for-20) from three. The Bulldogs also struggled from the free throw line, converting just 52.0% (13-for-25) from the line.

Baruch shot 45.0% (27-for-60) from the field, including 43.5% (10-for-23) from beyond the arc. The Bearcats also took full advantage of the charity stripe shooting 80.8% (21-for-26) from the line.

Brooklyn returns to action this Wednesday, January 14th, as the Bulldogs will host the Hawks of Hunter College in a CUNYAC matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:15 pm at the West Quad Center.