2002 CUNY / Con Edison Basketball Championships Men'S Semifinals at Hunter College

Medgar Evers Overcomes York to Reach First CUNY Final Since '93

New York, NY -- Medgar Evers College overcame a poor-shooting first half and a nine-point halftime deficit to knock off York College 68-65 in the CUNY Semifinals at the Hunter College Sportsplex in Manhattan. The Cougars reached the CUNY title game for the first time since 1993, when they lost to Hunter. Their only title came in 1991. "Give credit to York for outplaying us in the first half, but my guys settled down and played some excellent defense in the second half to enable us to win," said Medgar Evers head coach Robert Holford. "The team has made a lot of sacrifices this year, so we are not satisfied with just going to the finals - we want to win it all."

York, which advanced to six straight CUNY finals from 1995 to 2000, took the early advantage with aggressive play on both ends of the floor. The Cardinals grabbed a 35-26 lead at the break after shooting .400 (14-35) from the field and .625 (5-8) from the line. Those numbers contrasted sharply with the opposition as Medgar Evers shot a scant .267 (8-30) from the field and .545 (6-11) from the charity stripe.

In the second half, the momentum shifted dramatically as the Cougars chipped away at the lead. Medgar Evers finally took its first lead, 47-46 on a three-pointer by junior guard Malik Copeland, the hero from its quarterfinal win over Hunter. York then returned the favor by regaining a 48-47 advantage. The Cougars finally took the lead for good at 49-48. Down the stretch, both teams put forth unsightly efforts from the free throw line. York went a horrid .435 (10-23) from freebie land, including eight straight misses, and Medgar Evers wasn't much better, shooting .500 (7-14) from the stripe.

The Cougars (20-7) stretched their lead to 68-63 from the free throw line (three of four) in the final minute. York junior point guard Jason Daniel quickly drove the lane and scored an easy transition basket to cut the deficit to 68-65, but that's as close as the Cardinals could get. Senior center Khalil Nixon flexed his muscles in the paint with 16 points and 14 rebounds while sophomore guard Jebah Clayton added 16 points as MEC shot .533 (16-30) after the break while holding York to .400 (10-25).

The 20 wins are the most for Medgar Evers since the 1991 season when it went 26-5 to win both the CUNY and ECAC titles. York (13-14) was paced by senior Quincy Oudkerk with 17 points and 16 boards while Roberto Tapia chipped in 15 points and Daniel contributed 14. Medgar Evers advances to face top-seeded College of Staten Island in the championship game Friday, February 22 (7:45 p.m.), at Hunter.

It will be #1 vs. #2 in the CUNY Finals as Staten Island Downs Baruch in a Dramatic Semifinal 66-64

New York, NY -- Top seed Staten Island battled tooth and nail against fifth seed Baruch in a nailbiting CUNY Athletic Conference men's semifinal and emerged victorious 66-64 when Champ Albano followed a missed CSI shot and hit a 10-foot jumper for the game winner at the Hunter College Sportsplex. Staten Island will battle Medgar Evers in the CUNY finals Friday night at 7:45 pm.

Midway through the first half, the Dolphins assembled a 13-0 run that that turned a 15-10 deficit into a 23-15 advantage. After John Alesi hit a lay-up under the basket to cut the deficit to 27-26 with three seconds left in the half, he made the mistake of fouling CSI senior guard Champ Albano on a halfcourt heave as the buzzer sounded. He calmly sank all three free throws to give the Dolphins a 30-26 halftime lead.

It was a close battle the rest of the way as neither team managed to pull away. With the score tied at 62, Paul grabbed an offensive rebound and put one in off the glass to push CSI ahead 64-62 with :29 second remaining. Alesi came through one more time with a short baseline jumper to knot the game at 64 with 15 ticks left on the clock.

"We just made some big shots," said 13th year Dolphin head coach Tony Petosa, who saw his CSI career scoring mark of 1,635 fall to his senior David Paul who entered the game with identical scoring marks. Paul scored 19 for Staten Island on the night to push his career numbers to 1,654. "It's nice that he got it in a win, in a perfect world it would have happened in the finals."

Albano then rushed his jumper in traffic, missed, and put back his own rebound at 2.6 seconds to go for the game winner and a berth in CSI's second straight CUNY finale.

"It was just there today, I had to shoot and score," said Albano who has a game-high 24. "Our first two options (Paul & Nesbitt) were keyed on the whole day so they kicked it out to me. I never hit a game-winning shot before from CYO until now, it's a dream come true."

Alesi, who tallied 18 points for Baruch (18-9) missed running three at the buzzer. Daniel Guilford and Shaun Applebaum added 12 points apiece. Staten Island advances to face second-seeded Medgar Evers College in the championship game Friday, February 22 (7:45 p.m.), at Hunter.