The Medgar Evers College men's basketball team faced SUNY New Paltz at the Cougars Cave in Brooklyn, NY, on Saturday, December 29.

The Cougars (2-8) fell to the Hawks (5-4) in overtime by a final score of 98-91 in their first game of the Dr. Carol V. DeCosta Go4theGoal Classic, hosted by Medgar Evers College on December 29-30. MEC will return to action tomorrow at 4 pm against Centenary University (NJ) who defeated the College of New Rochelle 78-75 in Saturday's early game.

MEC quickly fell behind 12-4 and trailed for much of the first half. The Cougars struggled shooting in the first period, hitting 12-of-39 (.308) from the floor, but they hit seven of 16 three pointers and this kept them in the game as they trailed by seven at halftime.

The black-and-gold began the second half still shooting cold and were down by as much as 18 points. However, Justin Sutton took over the game after starting out 2-15 from the floor. The senior guard scored 20 points in the last nine minutes of regulation to lead the Cougar charge. Trailing 83-81 with five seconds left, Sutton missed a shot, grabbed his own rebound and hit a buzzer-beating jumper to send the game into OT.

In OT, however, the Cougars were unable to carry their momentum and shot 2-10 from the floor as New Paltz outscored MEC 15-8 in the extra period.

Sutton led all players with 30 points and added seven rebounds and four assists. Joancarlo Bonilla contributed 17 points and hit a number of clutch shots to help keep Medgar Evers in the game, while Elias Scott added 11. Mousa Sinera led all players with 13 rebounds, while Jafet Thomas added nine. Seven different players hit a three pointer for MEC. Unfortunately, the Cougars were only 20-39 from the charity stripe.

The Cougars return to action tomorrow against Centenary at 4 pm at the Cougars Cave.