The Lehman College men's basketball team finalized its regular season portion of the schedule with a mark of 8-17 overall and 5-8 in CUNYAC contests a year after the team finished with an overall mark of 21-9 and won the ECAC Metro NY/NJ Men's Basketball title. It has been a difficult season for head coach Steven Schulman's squad, but there is one thing that certainly can't be questioned when it comes to Schulman's group: Effort.
12 of Lehman College's 17 losses this season have come by eight points or less, so the Lightning certainly had opportunities to fatten their record by finishing some of those games. Still, the Lightning are a team that feel that they are better than their record, and they'll have a chance to prove that on Saturday afternoon. The Lightning – the number seven seed in this year's tournament – will travel to Brooklyn College to face the defending champs, and the number two seeded Bulldogs. Head coach Steven Schulman knows the challenge that Brooklyn will pose for his team.
“Brooklyn College is a team that does a lot of the little things right, and if you make mistakes against them, they're going to capitalize, plain and simple,” Schulman said. “They are a team that has played well in their new facility – I believe they are 10-1 in their new arena – and its going to be a task of ours to try and take the crowd out of the game early. We have some veteran guys who were on last year's ECAC title team who have the experience and know what these games are all about, such as Xavier Garvin, Alain Dela Cruz, and Jonathan DeJesus – and we'll be depending on those guys to help us keep things in control.”
The lone regular season meeting between the two teams served as a close game. The Lightning trailed by as many as eight points early in the first half, but Lehman chipped away and eventually went up by as many as five points – 56-51 – with 10:13 remaining in regulation before the Bulldogs rallied and took control of the game from there. One player who had a great game for the Lightning that day was senior Perry Daniel – as he netted 22 points and snatched six rebounds.
The Lightning will hope Daniel will be able to repeat the performance that he put forth against Brooklyn in the regular season when the teams take the court this Saturday. The senior played only one season with the Lightning, but he certainly made that count, averaging 14.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while making his teammates around him better players. He very well could be a difference maker for Lehman College this Saturday.
Xavier Garvin of Lehman College is motivated to help his team enjoy similar success that it did last year. When Alen Redzic and Duane Rhoden graduated after last season, the “x” man became Lehman's primary scoring threat as he completed the regular season with an average of 16.1 points per game. Garvin, along with rebounding machine Jonathan DeJesus and assist collector Alain Dela Cruz, will hope to help the Lightning pull off the upset this Saturday.
As for Brooklyn College, Richard Jean-Baptiste has served as the difference maker for his unit. His 471 points and 19.6 points-per-game average were both team-bests, and his seven rebounds per game also led the squad. He has also dished 52 assists this year while tallying 48 steals and shooting 46 percent from the field. Daniel Nisbett is another player worth mentioning as he brings his 11.4 points-per-game average into this Saturday's contest, and Amil John has dropped in 10.5 points per evening for his squad this year, so there is no shortage of players who can contribute for the Bulldogs.
The Lightning, who came so close to flipping their conference record (the team lost three conference games this season on last-second shots inside the final 2.5 seconds of regulation) to 8-5, will hope to show that they've become a stronger unit through the close defeats, and they'll hope to exemplify what they've learned Saturday when they look to take the first step towards getting back to the conference title game for the first time since 2004.
