NEW YORK, NY – Monroe Bronx men's basketball completed a near wire-to-wire victory Thursday (Nov. 17) against the Borough of Manhattan Community College Panthers with a final score of 71-54. With the victory, the Express move to 4-1 (2-0 Region 15) and the Panthers fall to 1-3 (1-1 Region 15). Monroe-Bronx open up a season 2-0 in conference play for the first time in program history. 

Early on, the Express got into the teeth of the defense to strike first on an Anthony Bannister layup after cleaning up a Quame' Smith miss. After some back and forth play, the Panthers moved into the lead off an Amaziah Richberg 3-pointer at the 12 minute mark. After an Andrew Molina interior score, both teams would go scoreless for the next three minutes, before a Chad Duke 3-pointer ended the scoring drought and pushed Monroe back in the lead at 13-11. Both teams would trade buckets, until the Express commenced a 16-2 run in the final 5:50 of the first half, capped off by two Molina 3-pointers and two Uriah Logan free throw with two seconds remaining in the period. Monroe entered the intermission with a 35-20 lead. 

BMCC opened the second stanza chipping away at the Express lead after a Richberg personal 4-0 run cut the lead to 11 points. Monroe immediately answered the flurry with a Jasigha Barnes 3-pointer to gain more of a cushion before Richberg responded with a 3-pointer of his own. Two minutes later, after Jarrell Tatum finished a layup through the contact to complete the three-point play, the Express began an 8-0 run to raise their advantage to 21 points. The Panthers continued to chip away at the lead, cutting it to 10 with 1:12 remaining, before a few Express free throws settled the final at 71-54. 

Siddiq McNair led all scorers with 17 points, two assists, one rebound and one steal. Molina followed with 11 points on 3-of-3 from downtown, one rebound and one steal. Quame' Smith and Anthony Bannister both added eight points with second rebounds and six rebounds respectively. Abubakar Kromah netted a game-high 14 rebounds, with seven points, three assists, one steal and one block. 

For the Panthers, Leverson Tulien led with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Amaziah Richberg pitched in 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

Monroe held the advantage in rebounds (45-41), bench points (39-11), points in the paint (30-28), points off turnovers (15-13), second chance points (16-10) assists (14-8) and field goal percentage (38.7-to-32.8). BMCC won the battle of steals (7-6) and blocks (4-3). 

The Express travel Saturday (Nov. 19) for conference action against the Westchester Community College Vikings in Valhalla, NY at 3 PM.

ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 35 teams competing across nine sports. There are 21 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports and men's volleyball programs, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 14 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Express, please visit us at www.MonroeExpress.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe Express), Twitter (@MonroeExpress) and Instagram (@MonroeExpress).