City Tech, already the 2004-05 CUNYAC South Division Champions, improved to 16-5, 11-1 in CUNYAC play with a hard fought, 69-66, victory over the College of Staten Island last night. The Dolphins trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half (37-23), but battled back to cut the deficit to six, 39-33, at the break.
The Dolphins took their first lead since 2-0 when Mike Jones (Warren Hills / Washington, NJ) converted an old fashioned three-point-play with 10:19 remaining to put CSI up 45-44. The lead would change 11 more times over the next 8 minutes as a Terrin Johnson (Curtis / Brooklyn, NY) jumper tied the score at 62 with 2:46 to play in regulation. But CSI would never regain the lead as a Ray Paul (Thomas Edison / Brooklyn, NY) trey follwed by a Shacun Malave (DeWitt Clinton / Bronx, NY) jumper put the Yellow Jackets up five at 67-62. The Dolphins would cut the lead to one once again with just 0:23 ticks remaining on a John Smith putback of a missed Michael Stewart (Westinghouse / Brookyn, NY) three-point attempt. City Tech's Otis Saylee (Seward Park / New York, NY) then drained 2 free throws to give NYCCT a 69-66 victory.
The Dolphins (12-11, 7-5 CUNYAC) had three shots at the tie in the final 20 seconds, but all were off the mark. Stewart, playing in his first game since breaking the school's all-time scoring record, led the Dolphins with 21 points while John Smith added 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Malave had 17 points, six rebounds and a season-high four steals, while Johnson added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the victors. City Tech’s forwards Saylee, with 13 points off the bench, and Jason Senior (Satellite Academy / Brooklyn, NY), with 12 points and six assists, had strong games as well.
The Yellow Jackets will close out the CUNYAC regular season this Friday night (February 11th, 7:00 pm) at Hunter College.
CSI will return to action on Saturday at 4pm as they host Medgar Evers in their last conference game of the season.