By: by Joe Guster, Sports Information Director
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NEW YORK (Feb. 1, 2010) – The Maritime men's basketball team held on to defeat the CUNYAC North first-place Baruch Bearcats, 53-48, on the road Monday night at the ARC Arena in Manhattan. The win was the Privateers' fifth-straight and improves their record to 13-4 overall, while Baruch falls to 15-6.
The Maritime defense came up big in the victory, holding the Bearcats to just 27.3-percent shooting from the field (18-for-66), the lowest since St. Joe'-Brooklyn shot 23.9-percent on Nov. 24. Senior Andre Cooper (Baltimore, Md./Southwestern) led all players with 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor. Juniors Shamair Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) and Justin Bright (Brooklyn, N.Y./Park West) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 and 10, respectively, as Bright nearly recorded a double-double with eight rebounds.
Junior Giovanni Hurley (Brooklyn, N.Y./Middle College High) brought down a team-high 14 boards and contributed eight points, while senior Adedokun Olanrewaju (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) had seven rebounds, despite limited playing time due to early foul trouble. Junior Andrew Geisel (Media, Pa./Penncrest) added four points from the bench, while senior Sean Robinson (Bronx, N.Y./H.S. for Art & Design) and sophomore Sam Porte (Harlem, N.Y./H.S. for Math, Science & Engineering) had three and two rebounds, respectively.
The game involved only two lead changes, which came early in the first half, but Maritime never saw a lead greater than eight points. The Privateers took a 27-21 lead into the locker room at the half and in the second, a layup by Williams at 14:58 gave Maritime another eight-point lead, 35-27. However, the Bearcats worked hard to eventually tie the game again at 43-43 with 7:04 to play. The Privateers were forced to hold on to a slim lead down the stretch, but when Bright nailed both his free throws with two seconds to play, that sealed the victory.
The Privateers return to Skyline Conference action on Wednesday, when they travel to take on NYU-Poly. Tipoff against the Fighting Blue Jays (4-14, 2-11 Skyline) is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Brooklyn.
