New York, NY – Junior forward Michael Dodd (Jamaica, NY/Hillcrest) led all scorers with 19 points and had a team high eight rebounds as the Hawks took down York College, who prior to tonight were the top team in the South Division of the CUNY Athletic Conference, 81-70 in men's basketball action at the Hunter Sportsplex Wednesday night.

Hunter took control of this game in the closing minutes of the first half, scoring 13 unanswered points behind the play of senior guard Marlon Smith (Bronx, NY/Archbishop Molloy) who scored eight of those points and assisted on the other five to close the half out with Hunter up 43-29. Smith finished the half with 15 of his 17 points, while senior guard Michael Salamanca (Hollis, NY/Cardozo) kept the Cardinals in the game with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from downtown.

The second half followed suit of the first half, with Hunter controlling the entire 20 minutes, despite York cutting the lead to six points with less than eight minutes left. Dodd scored 14 of his 19 in the second half and junior guard Joseph DeLuca (Maspeth, NY/Christ the King) had 11 of his 16 points in the second stanza.

Salamanca finished the game with a team high 14 points, joined by freshman forward Omar Phipps (Laurelton, NY/St. John's Prep) who added 14 of his own on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.

Tonight's victory improves the Hawks to 8-2 in the conference, currently in first place in the North Division and tied for first overall with the College of Staten Island. The Hawks will continue their strive towards the top seed in the playoffs on Friday, February 2, when they head to Brooklyn, NY to face the Yellow Jackets of N.Y. City Tech at 7:00 p.m. at Klitgord Gymnasium.