York Falls Short in Thrilling Overtime Loss at CUNYAC Championships
BOX SCORE NEW YORK, N.Y. – The York College Cardinals narrowly missed pulling off the upset against #3 seed John Jay, losing 81-78 in an overtime thriller in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 CUNYAC/ Con Edison men's basketball championship.
Tony Vails, who dropped 30 points on 10-18 shooting, led the Cardinals offense, while
Donald Rodriguez added 15 points off the bench.
Shamir Wilkinson added a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds along with five blocks in the losing effort.
John Jay's (14-12, CUNYAC 9-7) two all-stars Isaiah Holman and Jamar Harry showed why both were all conference players this year, as Holman scored a career-high 35 points while Harry recorded a triple-double.
Both teams came out hungry to win but John Jay quickly pulled out to a 19-10 first half lead. York was able to hold strong as John Jay clung to 44-36 lead at halftime. After the break York came out strong and raced back on a 12-1 run to take its first lead of the second half 50-48 with 12:44 to go.
From that point on, neither team led by more than four the rest of regulation. The final twelve minutes saw six ties and three lead changes.
With forty-six seconds left in regulation, a field goal by Harry put the Bloodhounds ahead 69-67. York failed to score on the subsequent possession, and was forced to foul putting John Jay at the free throw line for a one-and-one with twenty-one seconds left.
Bloodhounds, who were 15-for-32 (47%) from the free throw line, missed, giving York a final shot with just under eighteen seconds remaining. York was able to convert an easy layup off a missed three-point attempt, tying the game at 69 to force overtime.
However, the overtime period belonged to John Jay who led from start to finish. Vails nailed a three point shot just before the buzzer to get the York deficit to three, but it was too little too late.
The Cardinals finished the year 11-15 overall while going 7-9 in the CUNY Athletic Conference. John Jay advances to the semifinals to face #2 Baruch College Thursday at 8 pm.
