Jan. 19, 2011

Box Score

The Lehman Lightning men's basketball team fell behind early Wednesday night and never recovered, losing to host Brooklyn College 81-71 to fall to 4-2 in conference play.

Prosperity in the form of a lead lasted only four minutes and 32 seconds for the Lightning before Darnell Cudjoe's jumper put the Bulldogs in front to stay. The basket marked the beginning of a 16-4 run that put the home team up 20-9 with 12:06 left in the opening half.

The Bulldogs continued to pile on, riding a balanced first half scoring effort that featured 13 points from Amil John, 12 points from Tyshawn Russell and eight points from Cudjoe. When the teams retreated to their respective locker rooms, the Lightning was staring up at a 44-29 deficit.

Trailing 67-50 with 5:27 remaining, Lehman put together a spirited 12-4 run that left them down only nine after Victor Garcia's layup with 2:01 to go. But two free throws by Russell and a jumper by Chris Guttadaro pumped the Brooklyn lead back to 77-64. The Bulldogs added four more free throws for the game's final 81-71 margin.

Jonathan DeJesus continued his run of strong play as he nearly produced a 20-20 game, finishing with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Victor Garcia notched 18 points and swiped seven steals. Senior Alain De La Cruz was the other Lightning player in double figures as he finished with 10 points. Samuel Batista, the team's leading scorer, was never a factor, notching three points on 1-of-7 shooting in eight minutes.

Brooklyn's Russell led four players in double figures – John (17 points), Cudjoe (11 points) and Ahmad Hemingway were the others – finishing with a game-high 27 points, a majority coming on his stellar 17-for-18 performance at the free throw line.

The Lightning has now lost consecutive CUNYAC games and looks to get back on the beam when it hosts York College on Saturday.