After a first-round quarterfinal bye secured them a home semifinal postseason game, the College of Staten Island, bearers of the No. 2 seed in the CUNYAC Postseason Tournament, will be taking on the No. 3 seeded John Jay College at The Tank, this evening at 7pm. The winner will take on Baruch College in the CUNYAC Championship Game.
#2 CSI VS. #3 JOHN JAY COLLEGE AT-A-GLANCE
Matchup: CSI (16-9, 12-4 CUNYAC) vs. John Jay (16-10, 12-4 CUNYAC)
Where: The Tank – 2800 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY
Live Stats: https://www.sidearmstats.com/cunyac/mbball2
Live Video: http://www.csidolphins.com/CSISportsNet
All-Time Series: CSI leads, 57-14
Last Meeting: January 23, 2019 – John Jay won 86-55
Players to Watch (CSI): Leading the way in the scoring column for CSI continues to be Christian Taylor, who is averaging 19.7 points per contest. Taylor is also the team leader with 95 assists and 57 steals, and is connecting on a 51.3% rate from the field and a team-best 73.2% from the free-throw line. Adeola Latunji is next in line when it comes to scoring at an even 18 points per game, and he leads the team in rebounds with 8.2 per game and a team-best 57 on the offensive glass this season. Latunji has also had the hot hand of late, as he has led the Dolphins in scoring in five of the last seven CSI games. He has also averaging 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per contest in the two games against John Jay this season. One player who has not played against JJC this season is Joseph Zieris, who through the last six games has 6.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in an abbreviated 17.5 minutes per contest. Zieris hasn’t shot the ball all that much, but when he does he is at a 65.4% clip this season.
Players to Watch (JJC): Essien Epps is the team leader this season with a 16.2 points per game average, averaging a healthy 7.5 rebounds per game, good for second on the team. The rebounding leader is Doug Levy with a dominating 13.5 per game to go with 15.7 points per game. Levy has really been a thorn for the Dolphins too, as he has averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds per game in the two wins over CSI this season. Jerome Petty has been a distance threat for JJC this season with a team-best 58 three-pointers this season in a whopping 168 attempts. Romello Ford has also been a force, with 9.3 points per game and a team-best 91 assists. Ford led all Bloodhounds with 24 points the last time these two teams met on January 23.
News & Notes: CSI has dominated the series against the Bloodhounds over the years, but 2018-19 has belonged to the Bloodhounds, as they swept the season series for the first time since the 1991-92 season. First they defeated CSI 83-76 at The Tank in Staten Island and then the Bloodhounds took their biggest win ever in the series, beating the Dolphins by 31 in New York. It was only the third time ever that John Jay had defeated CSI by over 10 points in the history of the series that dates back to 1978. Tonight’s matchup with John Jay is the first postseason meeting between the two sides since the 2013 Championship Game, an 80-74 win by the Dolphins. The Bloodhounds’ last win over CSI in postseason play came back in 2007-08, a victory at The Tank in quarterfinal play, 63-59. CSI has a 9-3 record all-time over John Jay in CUNYAC postseason play and are 30-5 all-time over JJC in Staten Island. John Jay’s win over CSI on this floor earlier this season broke a 10-game CSI win streak in games played here. CSI, the defending CUNYAC Champions, are on a five-game CUNYAC Postseason winning streak. They are 67-24 all-time in the CUNYAC Postseason, and are 22-9 all-time in semifinal round games. A win tonight would clinch their third-straight Championship appearance. They would play Baruch College, a winner over Brooklyn College last night.
