BROOKLYN, NY - The Hunter College men's basketball team fought hard but ultimately fell, 77-64 to conference rival Brooklyn College in Saturday's matchup in the West Quad.

The Hawks drop to 6-8 overall and 2-2 in the CUNYAC while the Bulldogs improve to 10-3 and 3-1.

Senior Mark Courtien led all Hawks with an impressive 22 points and snagged six boards while fellow senior Jeffrey Daza added 12 points, six boards and three assists in the loss.

Despite allowing the Bulldogs to jump out to a quick 6-0 lead, Courtien connected on a pair of three-pointers to even the contest before hitting his third-straight three-ball to put the Hawks ahead (13-10) with 14:48 to play. The lead was shortlived however, as the Bulldogs responded with a three of their own to tie the game before building a significant lead (29-13) on a 16-0 run across the next five minutes. The Hawks closed the gap to 10 points, thanks to a John Akinyemi layup and a couple of free throws to make it a 38-28 affair in favor of the Bulldogs at half time.

The Hawks came out of the break with high energy, going on a 16-7 run to open the second half in the first 12:39 of play to cut the Bulldogs' lead to just one (45-44). Brooklyn tried to regain momentum, briefly taking control and establishing a six-point lead but it too was shortlived as the Hawks tied the game at 55-55 on a  Panagiotis Koutsoloukas jumper with six minutes left to play. Unfortuanately, for Hunter it was a close as they would come as the Hawks couldn't get over the hump and ran into trouble foul late. Brooklyn scored 12 of its final points at the charity stripe and managed to hold on for the 77-64 victory.

Hunter will return to the court this Monday, January 16 when they travel back to Brooklyn to take on the Bears of St. Joseph's College at 2pm.