NEW YORK, NY - The Hunter College Men's Basketball team maintained its composure and thwarted off the City College of New York, defeating the Beavers, 81-71 at the Hunter Sportsplex on Monday evening.

Hunter moves even on the year at 10-10, improving to 5-3 in the CUNYAC while CCNY falls to 1-18 and 0-7 in conference action.

Senior Mark Courtien lead all scorers with 21 points, including six three-points while fellow senior Anthony Uter added 20 points, collecting eight rebounds in the winning effort. Hunter finished the day shooting 45% from the field and an impressive 42% from downtown.

The Hawks saw a comanding 20-point first half lead erased by the Beavers as CCNY went on a 21-4 run to cut the Hawks' lead to three, 30-27 with 2:54 remaining however Hunter would end the period ahead, 35-32.

The first seven minutes of the second half proved to be the difference maker as the Hawks went on an 18-7 run of its own to regain the lead (53-39). The Beavers attempted to mount a late comeback, drawing to within six points (72-66) as Terence Johnson connected on a layup at 2:09 but Hunter's stalwart defense ensured they got no closer. The Hawks maintained its offensive onslaught as a late trey from Courtien put the Hawks up by 10 (77-67) with 1:02 to put the Beavers out of reach.

Hector Hernandez finished the night with 19 points and eight boards to pace the Beavers.

The Hawks return to action this Wednesday, February 1st when they host John Jay College at 7pm for Senior Day as Hunter. The Hawks will honor its seven seniors in Uter, Courtien, Jeffrey Daza, John Akinyemi, Joel Cerda, Mark Wnukowski and Panagiotis Koutsoloukas prior to tip-off.