Bronx, NY - A Saturday afternoon double header at Queensborough Community College resulted in a split with the men winning by a final of 83-45 and the women losing to the Lady Tigers of Queensborough 72-62.  The men's victory now places them with an overall record of 19-2 (14-1 in Region XV and 6-0 in CUNYAC) as they stand as the #8^th ranked team in the Nation. For the women they stand at 8-12 overall (7-6 in Region XV and 4-2 in the CUNAC).   
 
The afternoon, started with a surprise guest of Rocky Balboa, impersonated by Neil Busuttil, Ph.D., during the pre game chalk talk to motivate the men's team with its pre game mantra of going after what they are worth, as Rocky!  With a raucous reaction by the team they showed just how inspired they were by starting the game versus CUNYAC Rival Queensborough leading 20-4 with 10 minutes elapsed in the first half.  The key story has remained the Hostos defense as they were able to hold the Tigers to just 19 first half points as they took a 36-19 lead into the half. 
 
The second half remained the same for Hostos as they continued to play team basketball.  The team used a 34-11 run over the middle of the second half to extend their lead to 74-37 with 5 minutes remaining to finish with the 83-45 victory.  Every student-athlete played both halves and all contributed.  Tyree White capped off another solid effort with 18 points and 6 rebounds while Maverick Hodge had 12 points and 7 assists.  Rishawd Hendricks chipped in with 9 points while Chad Coachman, Henderson Belle and Darren Wilson all contributed with 8 points apiece.  Jeremiah Brown ended the day with 6 points and a team high 8 rebounds. 
 
The women competed mightily against the Lady Tigers of Queensborough but fell short by a final of 72-62.  Down by 8 at halftime (27-19) and later by 20 points in the second half, the resolve of this group would not allow the game to end so soon.   The team fought back by pressing full court and forcing multiple turnovers cutting the lead to 10 with a little under two minutes left in the game.  Unfortunately, this was to be too little too late, as the Lady Tigers who lost to the Lady Caimans earlier in the year (67-61) regrouped and finished the game with the victory to get the split for the season.  Kristina Scherban had 19 points and 9 rebounds in defeat for the Caimans.  Melsha Messam played big again for the Lady Caimans as she scored 21 points and corralled 7 rebounds while Tamesha Briggs contributed with 14 points.
 
Up next for the Lady Caimans will be another CUNYAC test as they face Kingsborough this Tuesday (2/5) at 5:00 PM. To start the evening off at 3:30 PM come to The Swamp for National Girls and Women in Sports Day as a panel of women in the Sport Industry talk about the jobs throughout the industry. Earlier this season the Lady Caimans won 72-38 versus Kingsborough and hope to duplicate the result this Tuesday.
 
For the Men, the upcoming week will begin with the doubleheader on Tuesday (2/5) as they face the Kingsborough men's team at 7:00 PM.  A hopeful win will clinch the #1 seed in the upcoming CUNYAC Tournament beginning on 2/19 at BMCC and will also give the team the elusive 20^th victory for the season.  The rest of the week will continue to show the mettle of this group as it will face Region XV rivals Sullivan County Community College on Thursday (2/7) at home and Nassau Community College on the road this upcoming Saturday (2/9).
 
Let's Go Caimans!
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