NEW YORK, NY - The Medgar Evers College men's basketball team took on The City College of New York in a CUNY Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) game at the Nat Holman Gymnasium on Monday, January 6.

The Cougars (4-9, 1-2 CUNYAC) defeated the Beavers (0-12, 0-3) by a final score of 103-99 in overtime.

The early action was back-and-forth, but CCNY used a 10-2 run to take a 19-10 lead halfway through the first half. Medgar responded with an 18-4 run of their own, and the teams traded buckets, stops, and the lead for the rest of the half. The Cougars trailed 43-39 at halftime. The black-and-gold outrebounded CCNY 28-15 in the opening 20 minutes, but hit only 3 of 11 three-pointers, compared to nine of 21 for the Beavers in the same time frame. Mousa Sinera had snagged 11 rebounds already by halftime in addition to his team-best nine points.

The Cougars' dominance in the paint continued in the second half, with Jonathan Grimsley hitting 7 of 11 shots in the second half and also grabbing nine rebounds. Medgar fell behind by eight points quickly in the second half, but went on a 25-10 run capped by a Devin Berrios three to put them ahead 70-63 with just under eight minutes remaining.

The home team was not done fighting, and held an 84-82 lead with under two minutes left. Tyrese Gibbs sunk a pair of free throws and Marcus Lewis finished a layup to put the Cougars up by two. After a Grimsley free throw, CCNY hit a game-tying three with 15 seconds left, and Medgar could not hit a tie-breaking shot before the end of regulation.

Overtime was close at first, but when Grimsley put the Cougars up by five with a layup with a minute and a half on the clock, the game became a test of the Cougars' free-throw shooting under pressure. Medgar made 12 of their 17 free throws in the overtime period, including 3-4 each from Grimsley and Gibbs, as well as 2-2 from Keison McIntosh and Marcus Lewis. McIntosh's two free throws put Medgar up by four points with just six seconds left, sealing the victory.

Grimsley finished with a double-double of 29 points and 21 rebounds, while Sinera (13 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals) and Marcus Lewis (11 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) also contributed double-doubles to the Cougar cause. Jafet Thomas finished with 16 points on 6-7 shooting, adding four rebounds and three blocks to his box score.

The Cougars finished with 53 rebounds compared to just 33 for CCNY.

The team returns to action on Wednesday, January 7, for a home CUNYAC game at the Cougars Cave against Baruch College at 8 pm.