POST GAME INTERVIEW – GAME VIDEO – The College of Staten Island men’s basketball team picked up their 10th straight win tonight with a lopsided 78-42 victory over CUNYAC opponents Medgar Evers College. Tonight’s win marks the second straight win over the Cougars this season and also increases CSI all-time lead over Medgar Evers to 63-18. With the win the Dolphins improve their record to 16-6 overall and a perfect 13-0 in the CUNYAC while the Cougars continue to stumble and fall to 4-15, 3-9 in the CUNYAC. Tonight’s win also clinches the no. 1 seed for the Dolphins with three games left in the season.
In a game where the Dolphins won by 36 points it was not CSI’s leading scorer Frank Schettino leading the way as he added just eight points on 2-3 shooting from the floor with a perfect 4-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe. Kevon Murphy was dominant tonight, scoring a game-high 15 points while also collecting six rebounds all on the defensive side. Murphy was able to find room in the paint and Schettino was able to find him all night long to the tune of 13 assists. Stephen Flagg also had a breakout game, scoring a 11 points in just 9 minutes of action.
The Dolphins shot well as a team tonight, shooting 50% (30-60) from the floor while holding the Cougars to just 23% (13-56) shooting. CSI had a strong outing on the boards, edging out Medgar Evers 44-31 in the rebounding category. Staten Island’s defense was impenetrable tonight, collecting 12 steals on 23 forced turnovers.
The men would miss their first two shots of the game while Justin Sutton would give the Cougars their only lead of the game with a jumper from the elbow. Edin Bracic would jump a pass for a steal that had him striding into open court where he would throw down a monstrous dunk to ignite the crowd early in tonight’s Blackout contest. That dunk not only ignited the Dolphins fan base but it also ignited the Dolphins as a squads as immediately following that dunk the Dolphins would ride a 13-0 run to take a 15-2 lead just eight minutes into the game.
The scoring drought for the Cougars would end when Sutton was fouled behind the arc where he would cash in on all three of his charity stripe attempts. Jade Spencer would put the Dolphins up 16 when he received a pass from Schettino down low where he was able to convert the layup. Flagg entered tonight’s contest with 9 minutes remaining in the first half and made the most of his time. Flagg wasted no time getting on the scoresheet, Flagg drove to the hoop where he was able to lay one in despite before fouled on the way up. Shortly after his made free throw attempt he would come back down the floor and take a pass from Christian Taylor and sink a short range jumper to give him five points in 30 seconds.
As the half began to wind down Bracic was able to sink a three to put the Dolphins up 21 over the Cougars. Holding such a large lead (37-16) the Dolphins kept the pressure on to help secure their top spot in the CUNYAC Standings.
CSI came out of the half time intermission and looked like the same team that left the floor in the first half. The Dolphins continued to hit their shots while forcing the Cougars to take inefficient shots. Flagg once again made his presence felt when he entered the game as he received a pass from Schettino and soared to the rim for an incredible one handed jam that once again got the crowd off of their feet in excitement. Khaleeq Baum would increase the Dolphins’ lead to 66-35 after draining a pair of free throws.
With the game out of reach for the Cougars, the bench players came in to earn some valuable playing time. CSI would follow suit which allowed Darryl Bryant to cash in and collect six points as the time began to expire.
The Dolphins once again protected their home court and held the Cougars to the second lowest output of the season.
CSI returns to action on Saturday where they will play host to Hunter College in a CUNYAC matchup at 1:00 PM.
