Manfred Cadet and the rest of the CCNY Men’s Basketball team could not stop Lehman’s second-half rally in the Beavers 74-59 loss Tuesday night.
Photo by Jeff Weisinger
A 10-point halftime lead was not enough for the CCNY Men’s Basketball team as Lehman College went on a 14-3 run to take the lead in the second half in the Beavers 74-59 loss at Lehman College on Tuesday night.
“I don’t know what the reason was, but we didn’t seem to fight back the way I know we can,” said a disappointed head coach Tom Green after the game.
CCNY’s shooting struggles continued yet again as the Beavers shot just 33.8 percent from the court in the game, including an embarrassing 3-for-19 from three-point land and 12-for-22 from the free throw line. The Beavers had three players in double-digits Tuesday night as Lareik Taylor led the Beavers with 13 points on the night while Nathan Lopez had 12 and Jordan Ortega scored 11.
CCNY opened the game on a 6-0 run sparked by layups by both Saleh Nasser and Ortega, then jumped to a 10-point, 16-6 lead with 11:39 left in the half following Lopez’s jumper. They would lead by as much as 11 with just over seven minutes left after a layup in the paint by Brandon Reeves, and held onto around a 10-point lead throughout the rest of the half.
“They got hot,” Lopez explained. “We just didn’t lock up like we did in the first half. That was the deciding factor of the game.”
After Reeves tied the game back at 42, Lehman fired back, outscoring CCNY 32-17 in the game’s final 10 minutes to seal the win.
“I feel like in the second half we just got comfortable with the lead,” CCNY point guard Manfred Cadet said after the game.
The Beavers offensive struggles, mainly in the second half, sparked Lehman’s second half rally, where the Lightning outscored the Beavers 51-26 in the second half, shooting 69 percent from the court. Stanley Stephens scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to spark the rally. Stephen was one of four players for Lehman to score in double digits Tuesday night.
“He had the game of his life on us tonight,” Green mentioned about Stephens’ performance Tuesday night. “When they went on that run, we just couldn’t adjust and come back.”
The Beavers end the season 7-18 while going 3-13 in the CUNYAC. CCNY travels to The College of Staten Island on Saturday to take on the Dolphins in the opening round of the CUNYAC tournament.
