Box Score New York, N.Y. – The No. 3-ranked Lehman College men's basketball team would build a double-digit lead in the second half, but rally capped off with a last-second three with 0.5 seconds left lifted No.2 CCNY past the Lightning in the CUNYAC semifinals, 73-71, Wednesday night in front of a raucous crowd on the CCNY campus.
The Lightning (17-10, 11-6 CUNYAC) has now lost in the last four conference semifinal matchups in the attempt to reach the finals Friday night.
"It's very frustrating to come up short but I'm proud of the team," said head coach Steve Schulman after the game. "We are proud of what we did [after a slow start to the season], but this will be motivation for next year."
Luis Hernandez scored a team-high 20 points, including 12 points in the first half. He also had three rebounds and three assists.
Andrew Utate chipped in with 11 points for the team, while
John Brens came off the bench with eight points and three assists.
Jean Marcial added 11 points with four boards, while
Damian Bellamy corralled a team-high six rebounds. Coming off the bench,
Juan Carlos Guzman Nieves secured four rebounds with seven points and three blocks.
For the Beavers (16-9, 12-4 CUNYAC), Khalil Hamer scored 15 points with a game-best 10 assists and six rebounds. Mark Richards poured in 24 points with 16 boards for a double-double, while David Solano poured in 16 including the game-winning three. They will face the College of Staten Island in the tournament finals Friday night.
CCNY jumped ahead for the first ten minutes of the first half, pushing ahead 21-16 with 10:35 left in the stanza. Then the Lightning worked their way back with a 15-2 run the next five minutes, led by six Hernandez points and a Marcial three, to grab a 31-24 edge.
The Beavers battled back to grab a small lead, but Hernandez closed out the last minute with a layup then a three-pointer with 32 seconds to take a 39-36 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Lehman held a slight lead while CCNY would attempt to chip away at it through the first seven minutes of the half. Up 44-43 with 16:26 left, the Lightning would strike again with 13 of the next 18 points to extend their lead.
Layups by Guzman and
Mylo Mitchell forced a Beaver timeout with 9:22 left in regulation up 61-50. CCNY would not give up, going on a 14-1 run to regain the lead with 4:51 remaining.
Trailing by two with two minutes remaining, Marcial would convert on a three-point play to grab a one-point advantage with 1:33 left. Brens would foul out, and Brendan Hauser's two free throws would give the Beavers a 69-68 lead.
Hernandez would get fouled, then come down and connect on his 19th and 20th points from the foul line to trade the lead back again with a minute left. A huge defensive stop followed by a Richards turnover gave Lehman the ball back with 31 seconds.
Mitchell would split the free throws to extend the lead to two points. Richards would be fouled on the next possession with 4.7 seconds left and hit one free throw but would get one more possession with 2.7 seconds left. Solano would bury a three-pointer with 0.5 seconds left, and a last-second effort would fall short.
This concludes the season for the Lightning, earning 17 wins on the season and a number-three seed in the CUNYAC tournament.
