The history between Brooklyn College and College of Staten Island is no secret. They both had lots of battles in the past. CSI is 4-0 all-time against Brooklyn in the CUNYAC Tournament. CSI has won the last 11 of the last 13 meeting. Tonight, there was a different story. The Brooklyn College Bulldogs came to the Nat Holman Gymnasium with a chip on their shoulder. They did not let stats define them for this particular game.
CSI started the game with a 6-2 lead. Bulldogs had already 3 fouls in under 5 minutes into the game. Brooklyn then grabbed their first lead of the game, 11-10. CSI would bounce back to tie the game at 18-18. Bulldogs regain the lead with 20-18. This would be a back and forth battle between the two teams throughout the entire first half. However, things started to get out a little out of hand for CSI. Baum Khaleeq committed a hard foul on fastbreak, which the referees called it a technical foul. Later, during the bulldogs possession, Baum grew angrily and frustrated at the referees for calling a charge on Baum and not a blocking foul. This resulted a second technical foul and Baum was no longer part of the action. Brooklyn finished the half leading CSI, 29-28.
Lorenzo Williams led the Bulldogs with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Frank Schettino, Will Fonseca and Edin Bracic combined for 23 points out of CSIs 28 points. Bulldogs and CSI shot equally .35% from the field.
The Bulldogs started the second half on a 11-3 run. CSI looked out of sync. They couldn’t get anything to go in. Bulldogs went up as many as 13 points leading 47-34. After coming out of timeout, CSI went on a 7-0 run. They tried to keep the battle going, but they weren’t able to stop the Bulldogs. CSIs struggled all night with free throws and perimeter jump shots. Bulldogs went on to defeat CSI, 78-69. Lorenzo Williams finishes with 23 points and 11 boards leading the Bulldogs. Egzon Gjonbalaj added 20 points. Jamel Gist added 15 points. CSIs Frank Schettino finished with 19 points and 10 boards. Will Fonseca added 19 points with 13 boards.
CSI shot a very poor .227% from downtown and .429% from the free throw line. Two key areas that mainly cost CSI the game and season. Brooklyn scored 17 points off turnovers.
Bulldogs move on to the CUNYAC Finals and meet the No. 5 Baruch College Bearcats, whom they defeated the No. 1 Lehman College team earlier today.
