City Tech Returns to Final With 83-69
Win Over CCNY
BRONX, NY – New York City College of Technology, the tournament’s #2 seed turned back upstart City College of New York, 83-69 to return to the final of the 2005 CUNY Athletic Conference / Con Edison Men’s Basketball Championships held at Lehman College’s Apex Arena in the Bronx. The Yellow Jackets (20-5), the South Division Champions, will face rival the College of Staten Island (16-11), whom they topped in both regular season contests this year.
City Tech, winners of 15 of their last 16 games, received an impressive first half performance from sophomore forward Otis Saylee (Seward Park / New York, NY) with 17 points and seven rebounds as they went into the break up 43-34. He finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Last season’s CUNYAC Player of the Year Shacun Malave (DeWitt Clinton / Bronx, NY) had 12 points and nine rebounds at the intermission for the Yellow Jackets and finished up with 20 points and game highs of 16 rebounds and four blocks.
“First off, I’m very proud to win 20 games for City Tech in the NCAA for the first time,” said City Tech legendary head coach Ray Amalbert, who’s teams at Hunter and City Tech have now appeared in eight CUNYAC / Con Edison finals (winning five times). “CCNY was gallant out there today. They surprised us in the fact that they didn’t press as much as they did during the regular season matchup and as it worked out, we put in a better ball handling starting lineup and we got off to a good start.”
The six-seeded CCNY Beavers (8-19), who upset the third-seeded Baruch Bearcats, 72-69, in the quarterfinals, also had a great offensive leader in the first period in senior forward Michael Loubier (Spring Brook / Chevy Chase, MD) with 14 points, and he finished with a game-high 22 points, but City Tech’s defense was sharp in the second half. The Yellow Jackets held the Beavers scoreless for a four-minute period from the eight minute mark down to expand a 67-57 lead by eight points. Sophomore guard Andrew Mungin (Vanguard / Highbridge, NY) finished with 16 points for the Beavers and classmate Robert Barker (LaSalle / Bushwick, NY) added 15 points and seven rebounds.
Sophomore center Terrin Johnson (Curtis / Brooklyn, NY) also pitched in for City Tech with 12 points, while junior guard Clyde Forteau (St. Raymond’s / Bronx, NY) had ten points for NYCCT, who will be seeking the school’s first-ever bid to the NCAA Championships in any sport on Friday night at 7:45 pm. Staten Island has won eleven CUNYAC / Con Edison Championships overall and three under current head coach Tony Petosa.