New York, NY - On Friday night, January 14, the men's basketball team played host to the Bulldogs of Brooklyn College in a conference matchup. After a see-saw battle between the two teams which featured five lead changes in the first half alone, the game came down to the wire and a last second three point attempt by Jason Cole to send it into overtime didn't fall, allowing Brooklyn to secure the win. With the loss, the Hawks fall to7-8, 2-3 CUNYAC while the Bulldogs move to 7-7, 3-2 CUNYAC.
Panagiotis Koutsoloukas got the Hawks on the board first with a made layup which was followed by a scoreless five minutes by both sides due to a combination of missed shots and tough defense. Koutsoloukas broke the silence at the 15:46 mark and again just 90 seconds later as he netted his team's, and the game's first six points. It was not until the 14:08 mark until John Amil got the Bulldogs on the board as he nailed a shot from behind the arc.
Brooklyn knotted the game at 9:14 on a layup off the hands of Chris Guttadaro, but it was short lived as Anthony Uter connected on two foul shots to retake the lead. With 2:30 left in the half, Darnell Cudjoe connected on a jumper which was followed up by a Tyshawn Russell layup to put the Bulldogs up by three. Joel Cerda cut in down to one on a layup and the Hawks would head into halftime down 30-31.
Following an Ahmad Hemingway three pointer, John Amil connected on a jumper to cap a 13-4 opening half run before a three from Jeffrey Daza stopped the bleeding. The Hawks battled their way back to even the game on two occasions, but found themselves down by six with 1:46 left to play. Still down by six with 27 seconds left, the Hawks made a formidable effort to close the gap to two with 17 seconds to go, but a late shot from the charity stripe by Amil forced a last second three point attempt by Cole which did not go in.
Jeffrey Daza led three other Hawks in double digit scoring with 13 while Koutsoloukas had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Teammates Izzy Hoffman and Mark Courtein posted 10 and 11 points respectively. Ahmad Hemingway was the game's high scorer with 20 points.
The Hawks are back in action on Wednesday, January 19 when they travel to Medgar Evers for a conference matchup. The game is slated for a 8:00 pm start.
