Baruch Runs Past CCNY 69-56; Beavers Drop to 2-3 on Season

 In what some could consider a tale of two halves for the CCNY Men's Basketball team, an 18-4 run by the Baruch Bearcats to open the second half ultimately doomed the CCNY Beavers at Nat Holman Gymnasium as CCNY falls to CUNYAC leading Baruch 69-56 Tuesday night.“We just allowed their bigs to get low post position way too much on us,” said head coach Tom Green after the loss.The Beavers, (2-3, 1-2) stayed with the Bearcats (6-2, 3-0) throughout a majority of the first half, as both teams traded the lead back-and-forth in the game’s opening minutes.  However, the Bearcats would go on a 5-0 run after trailing the Beavers 9-8 midway through the first, taking a 14-9 lead and ending the half up 35-27.CCNY’s shooting woes continued Tuesday night as the Beavers shot just 30% from the court and 33% from three-point land.  Anthony Lewis led CCNY in scoring for the second straight game dropping a game high 19 points on Baruch with both Che McCoy and Lareik Taylor each had 10 points.“We’re not a good shooting team,” Green mentioned.  “We got to find some offense somewhere in the perimeter.”The Beavers went as cold as the weather outside in the second half, shooting just 24% (10-41) from the court during Baruch’s 18-4 run to open the second half.After trailing Baruch by as much as 22 points, 53-31, midway through the second, CCNY rallied back as Baruch went cold for the first and only time on the night.  The nine-minute mark saw the Beavers go on a five minute, 15-2 run to pull within six at 55-49 of Baruch going into the last five minutes of the game, highlighted by another key block by Rasaq Balogun, leading to a three-pointer by Taylor.Baruch, however, would take advantage of a few late Beaver turnovers to seal the win in the final minutes of the game.“They’re a veteran team, they’ve been playing together for years,” Green added.  “We got to learn.”Baruch had four players score in double digits Tuesday night, led by Raymond De La Cruz’s team high 16 points, 13 of which were scored in Baruch’s run in the second half.CCNY will take on Mitchell College in a non-conference game Thursday night in the finale of their early three-game homestand.“The season is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” Green said.  “We’ve just got to try to learn what you can from this game – We’re just trying to build some positive momentum.  That’s all we can do right now at this point.”  Women's Basketball: Baruch 82, CCNY 49By Sandro NigrelliFollowing back-to-back wins against the USMMA and Medgar Evers, the Lady Beavers first real challenge of the season ends in defeat as CCNY fell to Baruch 82-49 in Tuesday night’s early game at Nat Holman Gymnasium.Bria Fisher led the Lady Beavers in scoring on the night with her 12 points with Giovanna Blanco and Syreeta Williams dropping 10 points each.The Lady Bearcats were just too experienced for CCNY, shooting 43% from the court on the night compared to CCNY’s 29.1%."We've got a young team so they dont understand how pull together they started pointing fingers instead banding together,” said head coach Jackee Meadow after the game.For the better part of the first half, CCNY set the pace, opening the game scoring the first two baskets to go up 4-0.  Baruch would tie the game at six and take a 7-6 lead with 15:46 left off Alicea Ulmer’s pair of free throws.CCNY returned the favor later in the half, taking a 12-11 lead midway through the first off a pair of free throws by Willams, highlighting CCNY’s 8-2 run to comeback early on.The Lady Bearcats would tie the game at 15 off Ulmer’s fastbreak layup and never look back, going up 37-24 at halftime.Baruch capitalized on CCNY’s 26 turnovers on the night and outrebounded CCNY 45-40.CCNY (2-5, 1-2) travels to The College of Staten Island on Saturday before breaking for the holidays.