2000 CUNYAC Men's Basketball Championship

KCC Knocks Off BMCC in Overtime

Despite only returning one player from last year's squad, Kingsborough Community College defended their title, defeating Borough of Manhattan Community College, 70-66 in overtime in the 2001 CUNY Athletic Conference / Con Edison Basketball Championship played at Queensborough CC.

With 2:27 remaining, KCC sophomore all-star Ricardo Reimers hit a drive to put the Wave up by 11, 62-51. But the Wave quickly ran out of steam and the Panthers outscored them 13-2 to end the game, culminating with a three by Shane Smith to knot the score at 64-64 at the end of regulation.

During the short break before overtime first year head coach Dan Nigro gathered his troops, "I knew we were running out of gas with our six-man rotation. But I also knew the guys dig in and pull it out."

The Wave scored the first five points in overtime, capped by a Mukhtar Conry (Brooklyn, NY) jumper with 3:19 to go, to put the winners up by five, 69-64. Freshman point guard Kevin Garrett with only eight points and three assists, was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player for his outstanding effort on the defensive end, holding Smith (Brooklyn, NY), the CUNYAC Player of the Year to only nine points, including none in the first 30 minutes of the game. Reimers (Queens, NY) was the high scorer with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while center Eric Caston added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

"We call Kevin the human press breaker," said Nigro, who was the head coach at CCNY last year and moved to KCC to become the school's Athletic Director and head coach. "As soon as we were able to add him for the second semester, the team started moving in the right direction, he has make the difference."

Sophomore forward Luis Soriano (New York, NY) led the Panthers with 18 points and 8 rebounds along with freshman 6'8 center Allan Tagino with 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

"Right now, I feel relieved," added Nigro. "I'm thrilled for guys like Mukhtar and Michael (Bucknight) who have worked for two years to get a CUNY trophy. For a team that only has three sophomores, we beat a very strong nationally-ranked BMCC squad tonight."

By Gregg Cohen