By: Michael L. Damon
mdamon@jjay.cuny.edu
(212) 237-8322
Box Score New York, N.Y.— Despite a paltry start that saw the them shoot less than 25 percent from the field through most of the first half, the John Jay men's basketball team never trailed in the contest and came away with their most lopsided win in recent memory in the end as the Bloodhounds defeated Vaughn College 84-37 at the Doghouse on Tuesday evening.
The 47-point win snaps John Jay's short one game losing streak and the Bloodhounds improved to 5-3 overall this season, while Vaughn College is now 4-4 this season.
The Bloodhounds scored the first five points of the contest en route to never trailing the entire game. But despite holding the lead all the way through, the visiting Warriors were right in the thick of it with the hosts through the early stages of the game. The game saw Vaughn tie the score three times in the first half.
While John Jay failed to find the touch early on, Vaughn matched the blown chances. Both teams were under 25 percent from the floor at the midway point of the stanza.
But John Jay gathered momentum in the latter stages of the first half and gradually pulled away.
The score was tied at 11-11 with 11:16 to go when the Bloodhounds took the lead for good. And with John Jay ahead 16-14 moments later, they quickly spurted away with a 7-0 run to pull ahead 23-14.
Matt Collins, who scored five of the seven points during the run, capped the spurt with a three point field goal with 5:11 remaining as the tide really stated to move in John Jay's favor. Collins had a solid all around game with 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Over the final five minutes of the first half, John Jay connected on seven of its final 11 field goal attempts to end the first half shooting a respectable 35.7 percent (15-for-42) and outscored Vaughn 16-5 in the process to take a 39-19 halftime lead.
Jerome Alexander, who led all scorers with 26 points, shot 5-for-7 from the floor over that five minute game changing span for 12 of his 18 first half points.
In the second half, the Bloodhounds cruised the rest of the way. They opened the stanza nursing the 20-point lead behind the starters.
But as the bench began to empty, the Bloodhounds poured it on. They gradually increased the lead to 30 points and were up 63-33 with 8:30 to play. Then over the final eight plus minutes, with the starters now resting and the bench in the game to finish it off, John Jay outscored Vaughn 24-4 over the final eight minutes, including 15-2 over the final four and a half minutes and 8-0 over the final three and a half minutes.
The Bloodhounds pressing defense the entire contest helped force Vaughn into 31 turnovers. John Jay registered 26 steals in the win, and were led in the category by Alexander with five and
Justin Alleyne with four.
John Jay dominated the inside by outscoring the Warriors 46-14 on points in the paint, and maintained a 30-3 advantage on points off turnovers.
John Jay also held a 16-0 advantage on fast break points.
Vaughn College had no one score in double figures. The Warriors were led by Tinsley Graham and Brandon Reid with seven points each. Reid also grabbed seven rebounds for Vaughn.
John Jay is back in action on Friday, December 9 for a home contest against the College of Mount Saint Mary at 7 p.m.
