MORRISTOWN, NJ -- The City College of New York men's basketball team began the Sean Clores Era on Saturday afternoon with a matchup against Saint Elizabeth.  In their first game under their new head coach, the Beavers (0-1) fell to the Eagles (1-0) by a 74-70 count at Saint Joseph Hall.

There were four ties and seven lead changes in a back-and-forth first half.  CCNY opened up a 19-11 advantage when Romello Rashad (New York, NY) was fouled on a trey and drained all three free throws at the 12:33 mark.  Saint Elizabeth responded with a 14-4 run to go ahead 25-23, but Daniel Piszczatowski (Middle Village, NY) followed with consecutive buckets to put the Beavers back in front, 27-25, with 6:31 left in the first half.

After an Isaiah Denard (Staten Island, NY) jumper made it a four-point game, 29-25, Saint Elizabeth scored 14 of the next 21 points to go up 39-36.  Romello sank a three-pointer just before the half expired, however, sending the teams into the locker room deadlocked at 39-39.

It was more of the same early in the second half, as the teams traded baskets over the first four minutes of the period.  With the score knotted at 46-46, a Romello layup started a 7-0 run that gave the Beavers a 53-46 lead.  CCNY extended that cushion to eight points at 60-52 midway through the period, but the Eagles countered with a 10-3 rally to pull within one, 63-62.

Rashad sank a layup to bring the lead back to three points, 65-62.  Cam Tucker followed with back-to-back layups for Saint Elizabeth, though, putting the Eagles back in front.  That started a 9-0 spurt, as Saint Elizabeth built a 71-65 advantage with 4:11 left.  The Beavers got back within three, 73-70, on a trey by Athanasios Kamberis (New Hyde Park, NY) with 12 seconds remaining, but Tucker went 1-for-2 at the line on the other end to seal the 74-70 victory for Saint Elizabeth.

Three Beavers scored in double figures, led by Rashad's 21 points.  He also grabbed six rebounds.  Denard had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards, while Yassine Sakhi (New York, NY) finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists.  Piszczatowski contributed nine points, seven boards and three steals, and Isaiah Williams (Bronx, NY) recorded four steals.  CCNY shot 36.8 percent (25-of-68) from the field, 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from long range, and 65 percent (13-of-20) at the line.

Jason Saldvieri paced the Eagles with 16 points, five assists and five steals.  Tucker tallied 13 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Jarek Johnson posted 10 points and five boards.  Shaquan Mickens collected eight points and six rebounds to go along with three assists, and Pierre Harden grabbed a team-best seven rebounds for Saint Elizabeth.  The Eagles outrebounded the Beavers 47-41 and shot 45.2 percent (28-of-62) from the floor.  Saint Elizabeth went 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) from downtown and 9-for-19 (47.4 percent) at the charity stripe.

CCNY will now have nearly a week off before returning to action.  The Beavers begin the Hartwick Tip-Off Tournament with a 5:30 p.m. matchup against the host Hawks (0-1) on Friday.