 Media Credit: Tony Correa Willy Vargas |
Bronx, NY - Lehman Lightning seniors Sekani Francis, Willy Vargas, and Frankie Gideon bid farewell to the APEX by sparking the Lightning to a dominating 90-73 win over the top ranked Baruch Bearcats. The Lightning ended the Bearcats 12 game CUNY win streak to drop them to 12-1 in CUNY play and 21-4 overall. The Lightning improves their record to 9-4 in CUNY play and 13-11 overall.
The first 10 minutes of the game saw Lehman and Baruch going back and forth and with 9:57 to go the score was 16-15. With 8:30 to in the first half, Vargas hit a two pointer, which tied up the game at 19. With the shooting of senior forward Louie Karis the Bearcats began to pull away. With 2:44 to go in the half Baruch held a 34-26. Baruch continued its dominance and at the half they held a commanding 41-32 lead.
 Media Credit: Tony Correa |
Lehman continued to trail in the game and with 16:37 to go, they were trailing 49-37. The Bearcats were dominating the Lightning and looked like they were going to extend their winning streak. The Lightning then received a spark from their head coach Steve Schulman. Coach Schulman argued with the referee and was hit with a technical foul but after he received the tech, the Lightning went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 49-45 with 14:45 to go. Lehman then used clutch shooting and strong defense to tie the game at 53 with 11:49 to go. The Lightning and the Bearcats continued to go back and forth until shooting from junior Kyle Lockett gave the Lightning a 67-62. A three pointer from Vargas with the shot clock expiring pushed Lehman's lead to 74-64 with 4:15 remaining in the game. The Lightning never looked back from there and won the game 90-73.
The Lightning were lead by Sekani Francis who had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Other strong performances came from Willy Vargas who had 20 points and 10 assists, Kyle Lockett with 14 points and Frankie Gideon with 12 points. Baruch was lead by Louie Karis, who finished the game with 24 points.
The Lehman Lightning prepare next to compete in the CUNYAC Tournaments on Saturday, February 18.
