The Lions Men's Basketball had their season home opener Saturday November 18th against Passaic County. The Lions entered their home opener with a record of 3-1 with victories over Queensborough, Bronx and LaGuardia only dropping a game to Borough of Manhattan. Passaic entered the game with a record of 1-3 with a win over Luzerne County and two very close games against Ocean County and Raritan Valley. 

The early stages of the game saw both teams trading buckets back and forth until about half way through where Passaic managed to get a nine point lead on the Lions. However the Lions would bear down and with a few key defensive stops were able to take the lead in the final minute of the first half and entered halftime with a lead as the score was 32-28. 

The second half saw much of the same action as the first as the Lions were able to play consistent and stifle any attempts by Passaic to overtake them. By the end of the game the Lions had secured a 72-62 victory.

Some of the Lions top performances came from sophomore guard Bashir Byrd who recorded 21 points, 7 rebounds and went 9-9 from the free throw line. 

Sophomore guard Jesse Taylor has been a big piece in the Lions early success and this game was no different as he recorded 19 points to go along with 9 rebounds.

Sophomore forward Furnie Oden also provided the Lions with a double digit scoring output with 13 points and 5 rebounds. 

The Lions now look forward to their next game on November 30th which sees them traveling to the Bronx to take on Monroe College- Bronx.

Go Lions!