Box Score
Hoboken, NJ---The Brooklyn College Men (21-7) could not earn a trip to the ECAC Championship game on Sunday as they fell to the top seed, Stevens Tech (22-6) on Saturday night by a final score of 83-74.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, as the teams were tied on seven separate occasions in the first fourteen minutes. A lay-up by reigning CUNYAC Player of the Year Richard Jean-Baptiste (St. John's Prep / Queens, NY) put the Bridges up 22-20 with just over five minutes to play. Michael Baker three-pointer then touched off a 10-2 Ducks run that put the host team up by 10 in the final two minutes of the period.
Early triples by Anthony Passalacqua (Susan E. Wagner / Staten Island, NY) and Waleed Farid (Stuyvesant / Woodside, N.Y.) gave the Ducks a 13 point cushion less than three minutes into the second half. The lead would swing between nine and 13 points for the next five minutes of play. Daniel Nisbett (Michael J. Petrides / Staten Island, NY) then hit a three-pointer to begin an 11-3 run for Brooklyn that pulled the Bridges to with four points, 54-49 with just over nine minutes to play.
BC would get no closer, as Stevens Tech scored 13 of the next 20 points to push the edge back to 10 points, 66-56 with four minutes remaining. A pair of free throws by Thomas Guerin (St. Edmund Prep / Brooklyn, NY) put Brooklyn to within eight points. Passalacqua would then hit four free throws, sandwiched around a three-point play by Virgil Gray (Bergen Catholic / Elmwood Park, NY) as the Ducks scored seven consecutive points to put the game out of reach.
BC senior guard Corey McFarlane (Transit Tech/Brooklyn, NY), played valiantly in his final collegiate contest, leading Brooklyn with 17 points, nine boards and eight steals as he saw three of his teammates foul out of the game.
Jean-Baptiste, who fouled out with 6:58 left in the game, scored 16 points and nabbed seven steals in only 30 minutes of play. Nisbett added 13 points for the Bridges, who finished their season with 21 wins.
Gray led Stevens Tech with 26 points, while Passalacqua and Baker chipped in with 19 and 12 points, respectively.
With only one senior (McFarlane), Coach Steve Podias will look for the Bridges to continue their winning ways and build upon the success enjoyed this season in 2008-2009.
