York’s run of CUNYAC titles ends

Ronald St. John kept waiting for that run, kept hoping and expecting an explosive spurt to arrive. It never came.
Moreover, his top-seeded York Cardinals saw their run of two CUNY Athletic Conference championships end.
No. 6 John Jay bested them, 68-54, last Friday night at the City College of New York’s Nat Holman Gymnasium for their first title in the 43 years of the league’s existence.
“After winning the last two years, it’s tough being on the other side,” senior point guard Mike Salamanca said.
“It’s not what they did; it’s what we did,” said St. John, in his 20th year at the helm of the Jamaica school. “We didn’t play good enough to win. Every time it looked like we could make a run, we didn’t finish, didn’t execute.”
“My big-time players,” he later added, “didn’t come to play.”
His best player, freshman power forward Marcel Esonwune, named to the All-Tournament team, did, putting up game-highs of 22 points and 12 rebounds, and CUNY Rookie of the Year Omari Phipps chipped in seven points and 11 rebounds and five assists. But Salamanca had one of his worst games as a Cardinal - seven points, two turnovers - failing to score after halftime and shooting 2-of-12 from the field altogether. The Cardinals also committed 28 turnovers, at least three each by five different players.
Vaughn Mason led John Jay with 14 points, Hakeem Kased added 13 and eight rebounds and Emilio Gomez had 10.
Esonwune, the Springfield Gardens resident, picked up two fouls after scoring 10 points in six dominant first-half minutes. With the Nigerian native sidelined, York never found a rhythm in the first half and trailed 39-35 at the break.
“I felt we were the better team,” St. John said. “We could overcome that.”
“The only one who played good was Marcel,” said Salamanca, a Cardozo alum of the 1999 city championship team. “Everyone else was quiet. Once he got out of the game, it killed us.”
The two teams went back and forth in the second half. The turning point came close to midway through, with 11:12 remaining, when Mason was whistled for his fourth personal foul. He was sent to the bench with John Jay clinging to a one-point lead. It seemed like a perfect time for that run St. John was waiting for.
Only it was not York (20-8) who was the benefactor. The Bloodhounds (13-15) scored eight of the game’s next nine points, including five from Kased, the tournament’s MVP. York would not get closer than four the rest of the way.
The Cardinals’ performance was in stark contrast to the two meetings between the clubs during the regular season, both won by York in double figures. However, John Jay was not fully healthy in either loss, and had confidence after back-to-back upsets in the preliminary rounds of the conference’s postseason tournament.
“We took them for granted,” Esonwune said.
Although an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament is extremely unlikely, York could receive a berth in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Next year, they expect to return to CCNY for the finals. The Cardinals graduate just two seniors, Salamanca and forward Chris Roberts, so with Phipps, Esonwune and Co. returning, the future is bright.