Brooklyn College sweeps Hunter in basketball doubleheader

January 15, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn College continued its hot season on Wednesday when Lorenzo Williams helped it beat Hunter College behind a 23-point performance. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

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It was a good night to be a Bulldog as both the Brooklyn College men’s and women’s teams swept Hunter College in a doubleheader in Midwood on Wednesday night.

The men’s team had the most impressive win. It beat Hunter College 75-58 behind a 23-point performance by junior Lorenzo Williams. Williams is fresh off being named the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Division-III National Player of the Week last week.

“It was a battle,” said head coach Rich Micallef. “We pulled ahead a couple of times, and they kept fighting back. We weren’t playing defense at times. That’s something we have to become more consistent with.

“Lorenzo really did a tremendous job for us,” Micallef continued. “He’s so strong and is so good at creating space for himself when he goes to the basket. He had a fantastic week last week, and he continued that tonight.”

The Bulldogs opened the game with an 8-0 run and led 29-19 midway through the first half. This was a game of big runs from both teams. As quickly as Brooklyn College built up its 10-point lead, it lost it, resulting in a 36-36 tie at halftime.

The Bulldogs opened up the second half with a 15-2 run that was capped off with a Jamel Gist dunk and a fastbreak layup by Williams. They once again let Hunter College back into the game, though, thanks to the hot shooting of Jerrell Antley, who finished with 26 points. However, this time they only let Hunter get as close as six points before turning it around for good.

“That’s what happens to us at times,” Gist said. “The one thing we have to do is defend. We have to defend better. The times when we are defending well is when we’re playing our best. We have to get to the point where that is more consistent.”

With the win, the Bulldogs have now improved to 13-3 overall this year and 6-2 against CUNY Athletic Conference opponents. Despite the inconsistency in the team’s defense right now, their players note that injuries are hurting them right now — Valon Djombalic is out, and Jai Kellman and Nick Grasso are limited. Once they get them back, they’ll look more like championship contenders.
“We have a great team when we play together,” said Williams, who is a South Shore High School graduate. “The chemistry is rocking and when we’re going well, we’re unbeatable. At this point anything less than a championship is a disappointment.”

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The Brooklyn College women’s team managed to snap its two-game losing streak with a 54-46 win over Hunter College in the early game Wednesday night, but head coach Alex Lang was disappointed with the effort.

“We didn’t play well at all,” Lang said. “That was probably the worst game we’ve played all season. We were lucky to win. Not to take anything away from Hunter, they fought hard, but we just didn’t have any rhythm offensively. We rushed a lot of shots, and we stopped working defensively in the second half. It wasn’t our best performance.”

The Lady Bulldogs certainly were lucky. They shot just 17.9 percent in the first half, but led 18-11 because Hunter College shot an even worse 9.1 percent. Then they were thoroughly outplayed in the second half as Hunter cut their lead to just one point, but they managed to win the game after Vanessa D’Ambrosi, a Bishop Ford graduate, hit a pair of big threes late.

“We knew that we weren’t playing our best, so everyone was trying to make something happen,” said team captain Nicole Francomano, who led the team with 23 points on the night. “Vanessa always makes big shots, so I wasn’t surprised to see her be the one to hit them.”

The Lady Bulldogs are now 9-5 overall this season and 7-1 against CUNYAC opponents.