PURCHASE, NY – The Hunter College men's basketball team staved off a late comeback attempt from host Manhattanville College to escape Kennedy Gym with the 85-81 victory in tonight's season opener.
Senior Mark Courtien went 7-12 from the field and 4-7 behind the arc with 19 points, collecting four rebounds to lead the Hawks. Jeffrey Daza added 18 points for the Hawks, including a pair of three-pointers while Joel Cerda rounded out the top performers with 13 points. Anthony Uter led the Hawks with nine rebounds and added nine points.
Despite trailing 42-36 at the half, the Hawks used a 5:43 run to take the lead as Courtien drained a three pointer to put Hunter ahead with 12:33 left to play in the second stanza. From there, Hunter turned the burners on, extending their lead to 14 over the next four minutes. The Hawks would go up 70-56 with 9:03 left to play before the Valiants mounted a comeback of their own.
Manhattanville came up with clutch shooting down the stretch, getting a pair of threes from Chrys Mallone, a layup from Felipe Vargas and another three from Ivan Jovicic to cut the Hawks' lead to just three, as the Valiants closed the gap to 70-67 with 6:33 remaining.
With just under three minutes to go in regulation, Manhattanville tied the game on a three-pointer from Jeffrey Ventura to make it 76-all but the Hawks would counter with a three ball from Daza before the Courtien came up with a clutch steal which resulted in a Cerda layup to put the Hawks ahead by five, 81-76.
Manhattanville would attempt to foul down the stretch but with the Hawks already in the bonus, Hunter converted 4-6 free throws to secure tonight's 85-81 victory.
Hunter shot 49.2% on the day, going 40% from behind the arc and 61.9% from the charity stripe. Manhattanville shot 51.6% shooting while the Valiants shot 50% from three-ball range.
Hunter returns to action this weekend when the Hawks travel to Williamsport, Pa. to compete in the Lycoming College Tip-Off Tournament. The Hawks are slated to face Adrian College on Friday, November 18 before taking on Lycoming on Saturday, November 19.
