College of Staten Island men’s basketball took a chilling 109-107 victory over the Baruch Bearcats in triple overtime Friday evening at the ARC Arena. The Dolphins continue to stay undefeated in the conference 5-0 as the Bearcats fell to a 3-2 record.
 
The Bearcats had the lead most of the first half with CSI trailing close behind. At the 8:35 mark a jumper by CSI’s Matthew Van Manen gave the Dolphins their first lead by one. The score went back-and-forth with Baruch taking another small lead to end the half up, 34-32.
 
Baruch struck strong in the opening minutes with an 8-0 run to put the score at 40-32. The Dolphins struggled deeper into the half where three consecutive turnovers helped Baruch to a 9 point lead. The Bearcats would lead by a handful of points until less than a minute remained on the clock. Jordan Young’s two made free throws closed the gap four, 75-71. A TJ Tibbs jumper 11 seconds later put the Dolphins at 75-71. A turnover at .34 by William Falkenhainer gave CSI the ball where a Bloochy Magliore layup tied the score at 75. The Bearcats had a final chance to score putting up a 3-pointer and a jumper in the final three seconds.
 
Dale Taranto started the scoring in the first overtime with a free throw 30 seconds in. A layup and two-made free throws by Jordan Young gave CSI a 5 point cushion and it seemed all would end there as the clock hit one minute and Baruch was yet to score. However, David Hughes fouled out putting Arki Wisnu to the line where two made free throws closed the gap to three. Twenty seconds remaining, Lionel Hilaire sunk a long three-pointer to tie the score at 80. This time CSI had the final chance to take the lead, however, Magliore missed a jumper with two seconds left.
 
A made three-pointer by Magliore followed by a Tibbs jumper to extend their lead by five just 1:30 into the second OT. Seconds later, a Taranto foul sent Hilaire to the line where he sunk both foul shots putting the score at 85-82. A non-shooting foul by Young saw him leave the game as four consecutive (3 for CSI) turnovers put the ball in the hands of Hilaire who dropped another three point shot to tie the score at 85. Two made free throws by Magliore followed a layup by Taranto to give the Dolphins another four point extension with 1:34 left on the clock. Baruch’s Sean Loftus finished a three-point play after being fouled on a made-layup by Taranto and closing the gap to one. A minute later, Loftus was fouled by Tibbs where he sunk both shots to help the Bearcats to their first lead in both overtimes. A quick Dolphins timeout entered CSI’s Phil Broomfield in the game for the four-fouled Tibbs. Broomfield fouled Hilaire right away who didn’t fail to miss both free throws putting Baruch up, 92-89. A Baruch steal was finished with a layup by CJ Jurewicz-Johnson to push the Bearcats above by five. Baruch followed with a timeout and Tibbs re-entered the game as the clock showed four seconds remaining. With a quick in-bound, Tibbs wasted no time as he dropped a three-point basket to close the gap to 94-92. With two seconds left, Baruch’s Mickey Abbatiello was put to the line making one free throw and extending their lead, 95-92. With no time for mistakes, CSI in-bounded and as time dwindled out Tibbs threw up a perfect three-point shot to score and send the game into triple overtime with a 95-95 tie.
 
Knowing how precious the time was CSI’s Van Manen and Louis Valdes attained a layup apiece to give CSI a 99-95 lead just 40 seconds in. Van Manen fouled out as a Loftus made free throw was followed by two Magliore free throws putting the score at 101-96 still in CSI’s favor. Tammer Farid’s three-point goal closed the gap to two before Tibbs answered with a jumper to raise the lead back to four, 103-99. At 2:16, Hilaire’s layup put the score in triple digits for Baruch and again brought them within two. CSI’s Herschel Jenkins picked up three quick fouls allowing Baruch to knack in four made free throws and take their first lead of the third OT, 105-103. Jenkins redeemed himself seconds later as he tossed in a layup off a Magliore assist and tie the score at 105. After a missed Baruch layup, the ball found the hands of Tibbs who confidently sunk another jumper with .27 left. With 11 seconds to go, Abbatiello rebounded his own missed layup to score the 107th point for Baruch and tie the game. Much like the second overtime, CSI put the ball in the right hands as Tibbs took a dribble into his opponent and gracefully sunk the incredible and most memorable shot to win the game for the Dolphins, 109-107.
 
Tibbs led the Dolphins with 31 points, 7 assists and five rebounds. Magliore totaled 19 points and 13 rebounds as Young added 20 points and 13 rebounds. Taranto’s all-around performance saw 15 rebounds, 11 points, six steals and five assists. Van Manen helped with 12 points and five rebounds.
 
Hilaire led the Bearcats with a fine performance of 33 points while Loftus totaled 22 points and a game-high 19 rebounds. Wisnu added 19 points while Farid had 14 points.  
 
CSI shot 42% to Baruch’s 43%. CSI shot 72.2% from free throw range to Baruch’s
79.4%.
 
The Dolphins will be back in action on Wednesday, January 19, as they travel to CCNY for a 7:00 pm conference game.