Box Score
Jamaica, NY – On Monday, February 14, the men's basketball team took on the Cardinals of York College in their final game of the regular season. The Hawks took control of the score right off the start and retained the lead for the first six and a half minutes until the Cardinals went on an 11-2 run and slowly grew their lead as the minutes ticked away, eventually building a 17 point cushion. Hunter could not get anything going and could not spark a comeback and would fall by a score of 70-53. With the loss, Hunter falls to 12-13, 7-6 CUNYAC while the Cardinals move to 9-16, 7-6 CUNYAC.
Jason Cole dished the ball to Panagiotis Koutsoloukas for the early bucket and had two opportunities at the charity stripe on the next possession but connected on one for the early three point lead. The Cardinals answered right back with a three pointer from David Simon to knot the game. Back to back scores by Cole and Koutsoloukas put the Hawks up by two, but a 13-4 York run gave them the lead and momentum on their side. Late free throws in the final 20 seconds by both teams set the score at 30-22 in favor of the Cardinals.
A 13-6 York run opened the half giving them a 17 point cushion and a lead that would prove to be too much to overcome. The Hawks managed to cut the lead down to 11 at the 8:04 mark, but it's as close as they would get. Down by 12 with 2:31 left, Hunter was not able to muster up a comeback and as the seconds ticked away, York would go on to secure the win.
Junior Mark Courtein led the way for the Hawks as he put up 14 points on 5-14 shooting from the field while Cole was close behind with 13 points. Koutsoloukas chipped in with seven points and a game high 11 rebounds. William Holley led all scorers with 24 points while teammates Marcel Esonwune and Simon had 15 and 12 points respectively.
With the loss, the Hawks are awarded the #6 seed in the CUNYAC playoffs with the rankings as follows:
Seeds
1. Staten Island (15-8, 10-3 CUNYAC)
2. Medgar Evers (14-11, 10-3 CUNYAC)
3. Baruch (15-10, 9-4 CUNYAC)
4. Brooklyn (13-11, 9-4 CUNYAC)
5. York (9-16, 7-6 CUNYAC)
6. Hunter (12-13, 7-6 CUNYAC)
7. Lehman (12-13, 6-7 CUNYAC)
8. John Jay (9-16, 3-10 CUNYAC)
Quarterfinals
Sunday, Feb. 20
John Jay at Staten Island, 1 p.m.
York at Brooklyn, 1 p.m.
Hunter at Baruch, 1 p.m.
Lehman at Medgar Evers, TBA
Semifinals - at Nat Holman Gymnasium (CCNY)
Wednesday, Feb. 23
York/Brooklyn winner vs. John Jay/Staten Island winner, 6 p.m.
Hunter/Baruch winner vs. Lehman/Medgar Evers winner, 8 p.m.
Finals - at Nat Holman Gymnasium (CCNY)
Saturday, Feb. 26
Semifinal winners, 5 p.m.
