JAMAICA, NY – Trailing by three with eight seconds left, the City College of New York men's basketball team had the ball and a chance to tie on Wednesday night.  However, Yassine Sakhi's (New York, NY) three-pointer at the buzzer was blocked, and the Beavers (0-13, 0-4 CUNY Athletic Conference) fell to York (6-8, 2-2 CUNYAC) by an 80-77 count at York College Gymnasium.

York led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but an Isaiah Denard (Staten Island, NY) trey with 1:45 left brought the Beavers within two, 77-75.  After the Cardinals split a pair of free throws on three successive trips down the floor, Denard sank a layup with 10 seconds left to make it a three-point game, 80-77.

The Cardinals then used both of their remaining timeouts to set up an inbound play.  However, Donald Hartley, Jr., stepped out of bounds, giving the ball back to CCNY.  Sakhi got a good look from the right wing, but Jaye Bookhart blocked the attempt and time ran out before the Beavers were able to take another shot.

Sakhi was one of three Beavers with 20 points in the contest, finishing with 22 points and seven rebounds.  Romello Rashad (New York, NY) and Denard, meanwhile, each posted a double-double.  Rashad had 20 points and 14 boards to go along with seven assists, while Denard tallied 20 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. 

Daniel Piszczatowski (Middle Village, NY) added 10 points and five assists for CCNY, which shot 42.3 percent (30-of-71) from the field.  The Beavers went 7-for-22 (31.8 percent) from three-point land and 10-for-20 (50 percent) at the free throw line.

CCNY had a four-point lead, 13-9, with 13:27 left in the first half before York went on a 10-0 run to go up 19-13.  After the Beavers rallied to tie it at 22-22, the Cardinals used a 13-7 spurt to regain the lead, 35-29, with 1:30 remaining until halftime.  Denard then scored five points over the final 1:30 to trim CCNY's deficit to two, 36-34, at the break.

It was a five-point game early in the second half when York rattled off seven straight points to extend their advantage to 57-45.  CCNY scored the next two buckets, layups by Sakhi and Rashad, but the Cardinals responded with a 7-2 run to open up their largest lead of the night, a 64-51 cushion with 8:50 left.

Bookhart led the Cardinals with 23 points.  Mambe Koureissi recorded a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Hartley finished with 12 points, nine assists and eight boards.  Devine Chisholm had 15 points and eight assists, and Akil Vaughn tallied nine points to go along with nine rebounds.  As a team, York shot 38.9 percent (28-of-72) from the floor, 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from long range, and 60.7 percent (17-of-28) at the charity stripe.

After opening the New Year with three games in five days, the Beavers will now be off for a week.  CCNY returns to action with a 7 p.m. matchup at Hunter (1-12, 1-3 CUNYAC) next Wednesday.