February 24 at Nat Holman Gymnasium in New York, NY
espn3.com
CCNY, the No. 2 seed, led top-seed Staten Island 44-43 about four minutes into the second half, but a 12-0 run, aided by great work from Kevon Murphy, helped Staten Island pull away and win 77-66 for the school's 14th league championship.
CSI finished 17-0 in CUNY play and advances to the Division III national tournament, which begins next week.
Murphy scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, and six of those came on three consecutive baskets during the run. Sensational point guard Frank Schettino, who was coming off a 11-10-13 triple-double in a semifinal win over fourth-seeded Baruch, was held to 11 points and six assists and turned the ball over five times, but the key for Schettino and the Dolphins was only one of the team's 14 turnovers came in the second half.
Staten Island's defense also clamped down at the right time, holding CCNY without a field goal for 6 1/2 minutes (missed nine straight shots). By the time the drought ended, at the 9:40 mark on March Richards' lay-up, Staten Island still held a nine-point lead & it was nothing worse than a three-possession game the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Khaleeq Baum poured in 21 and 11 to take home tournament MVP honors. I thought Murphy should've been MVP, though, after he had a near double-double (20 points, nine rebounds) against Baruch & was huge over the final 20 minutes of the final.
* Two quick things:
1. Color commentator Sean Couch said "pure as the driven snow with that jumper," so we can't let him get away with that.
2. This CCNY logo is terrifying
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