Edison, New Jersey – The BMCC men's basketball team fell 70-55 to Middlesex County College in their season opener on Saturday afternoon in Edison, New Jersey. The Panthers fall to 0-1, while the Colts improve to 1-0.
 
Sophomore Ysaia Marte (Bronx, New York), a 2022-23 CUNYAC Community College All-Star, paced the Panthers offense, dropping a team-high 17 points with 11 of his points coming in the first half, while classmate Elijah Paul (Brooklyn, New York) matched his career-best with nine points. Freshman Khalil Black (Queens, New York) also had nine points, and classmate Dontate Creedland (Brooklyn, New York) dished out a team-high four assists.

Freshman Isah Mohammed (Lagos, Nigeria) led the Panthers on the glass with a team-high nine rebounds and turned away three shots, also a team-best, while classmate Sion Holman (Brooklyn, New York) snatched a team-best two steals and registered seven rebounds and two blocks.
 
Middlesex County College posted the first five points of the contest, and then the Panthers got within one twice, 5-4 and 7-6, on layups by Marte at the 18:00 and 17:06 mark. Then the Colts exploded on an 11-0 run to stretch their lead to 10, 17-7 on a Jahmere Glover Layup at 13:31.
 
The Panthers roared back to get within three 21-18 with an 11-4 run capped off by a God'slove Ukpe (Port Harcout, Nigeria) layup at the 7:18 mark. Middlesex County College manufactured another 11-1 run to get the lead back to seven, 29-22 on a Glover three at the 4:19 mark, before Marte got the deficit down to five, 29-24 on a layup at the 3:47 mark. The Colts would close out the first half on a 10-3 run to get their lead to its largest of the first half, 12, 39-27, on a Damien Downs three-pointer going into the halftime break.
 
The Colts got out quickly in the second half with a 10-4 run to get the lead to 17, 49-32 on a Glover tip-in at 14:02, then built it up to 20, 54-34 at 11:34, their biggest of the afternoon on a trey from Savion Pressley.
 
The Panthers worked hard to get the deficit down to 10, 59-49 at 6:45 on a Black layup but couldn't get any closer, falling 70-55. 
 
The Panthers will look for their first win of the season this Tuesday, November 7, at 8 p.m. in CUNYAC action against LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York. For more information, visit the BMCC Men's Basketball Schedule Page.
 

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