The Baruch College Bearcats defeated the Lightning of Lehman College, 75-69, in overtime to win the 2021-22 CUNYAC Championship on Friday night at CCNY's Nat Holman Gymnasium.

The Bearcats earn the CUNYAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament that gets underway next Friday, March 4. The Bearcats will discover the first round opponent and location in a special video announcement on NCAA.com on Monday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.

Sophomore Emil Purisic was named the Championship MVP after a near perfect performance of 23 points shooting 9-of-10 from the field. His only miss was a three-pointer. Otherwise, he was perfect in the paint and also grabbed 14 rebounds

Adnan Bajrami netted 18 points, three rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks in the win, while Sean Donnellan had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists. For their efforts, Bajrami and Donnellan were each named to the All-Tournament team..  

In overtime, the Bearcats scored back-to-back field goals to take a 68-64 lead. Lehman cut the deficit to just one with a trio of free throws, but back-to-back baskets from Michael Richards gave the Bearcats a 72-67 edge with 1:07 remaining.

Isaiah Geathers scored a quick layup to cut the score to 72-69, but a free throw by Donnellan and two free throws by Jehmehl Fair helped wrap up the championship win at neutral site CCNY.