BRONX 62, HOSTOS 59 - BOXSCORE
Bronx Community College muscled out a 62-59 Victory over Hostos Community College in the 2012 CUNYAC / Con Edison Community College Men's Basketball Championship Final on Friday. Currently ranked #10 Nationally, the Broncos (24-5) won the school's second straight championship in a hard-fought nailbeiter in front of a full house at Queensborough CC.
"I feel better about this win, than I did last year," said BCC head coach Shannon McKinnon, who has now won back-to-back titles. "Last year I knew we had the game, this year, i didn't know about my freshman, but this year my sophomores pulled it out for me. This may be the worst game we played all season, but we were just good enough to edge it out. They have a great program. I just think we had the better team and we proved it."
A game expected to be high energy and high scoring didn't disappoint at the opening tip, Bronx' ERNEST QUAYE buried a three-pointer just 0:21 and Hostos' JEREMIAH BROWN responded with a trey of his own to know the game at 3-3. But Hostos (19-7) forced a slower pace than the 91 point-per-game Broncos would have preferred. The defending champions were never able to get on track offensively and grab the lead in the first half, despite holding a huge advantage on the boards 20-11. The Broncos were 11-32 from the floor, including 4-14 from long distance, while the Caimans thrived, shooting 14-27 (52%) in the first half.
Still, with the final two baskets of the first half, Hostos held an one-point advantage, 31-30 ,behind 11 points by Brown. MAVERICK HODGE and CUNYAC Player of the Year CHARLES JACKSON each had six points in period number one.
BCC was led at the break by CUNYAC Rookie of the Year CLAUDE BLUE (seven 1st half rebounds) and two-time All-Star Christopher Davis with ten points each.
In the second half, the Caimans tried in earnest to hold off the bigger Broncos, despite a big disadvantage on the boards (37-49, ad 12-25 on the offesnive side). Sophomore BRANDON STOLZ took the ball to the hoop with 8:39 to give HCC a four-point lead 48-44. But an and-one shot by Blue finally seemed to turn the tide. Blue made the free throw and another basket during a 12-2 stretch that and the corner looked to be turned.
In the final minute, only down by two, Jackson forced a turnover from BCC's ENSON GARCIA and went straight to the basket for the game-tying layup. But RONELL ROSS checked back in the game replacing Garcia and took a Davis pass and made the game-winning shot with 0:11 remaining. A foul on the play by Jackson, his fifth fouled him out of the contest with only eight points (He averages a CUNYAC best 22.9 ppg), but Ross missed the shot from the charity stripe. On the next possession, Stolz turned the ball over for Hostos and following a timeout, he was forced to foul Blue. Blue missed the first free throw, but made the second shot and took home the trophy for the Bronocs, 62-59.
Blue finished with 23 points and a CUNYAC/Con Edison Tournament record 19 rebounds in the final on his way to Most Valuable Player honors. Davis enjoyed a strong game as well with 12 points, seven assists and three steals to lead the Broncos back to the top spot.
"I didn't even know I was in the record books! I'm super excited! My happiness jsut went out the window Completely!," claimed Blue on the new Tournament record 19 caroms. "Now my daughter has something to see what her father did. Didn't know I made history! I'm speechless."
"Claude Blue is the most dominating player in the conference," McKinnon added in.
Brown led Hostos with 22 points, largely on 6-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Stolz also shot well for HCC and came away with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, but the Caimans were only 3-8 from the charity stripe and had too many late turnovers in the crucial contest.
