BOX SCORE
New York, N.Y. – On Friday, November 30, the men's basketball team played host to the Lightning of Lehman College in a CUNYAC contest. The Hawks jumped out to a nine point lead at the half, but were unable to hold off a second half surge by Lehman and ultimately fell by a score of 72-65. With the loss, Hunter moves to 2-5, 0-2 CUNYAC while the Lightning advance to 3-2, 1-1 CUNYAC.
Ben Mayell poured in a season high 18 points on 7-15 shooting from the field with half of the points coming from the three-point line.
Robert Borusiewicz did his part with 15 points and six boards while the trio of
Eric Kippins,
Lorenzo Brown and
Taulant Ibraj combined for 23 points and 19 rebounds.
The Lightning had three players in double figures with Erasmo Soto posting a game high of 21 points with Kelvin Gil chipping in with 17 while Stanley Stephens added 16.
The first half was highlighted by seven ties and eight lead changes and either team getting ahead by more than three points through the first 16:41 of the game. Hunter opened the game with a 7-4 run on the efforts of Brown, Mayell and Kippins.
In the last 5:23, the Purple and Gold unleashed a vicious 15-3 run to close out the half. Sparked by Gil jumper, the Hawks went on to drain six consecutive shots including two triples by Mayell and capped by a successful converted three-point play by
Brian Kruger to make it a nine point affair with Hunter holding the 32-23 upper hand.
Opening the second act, Hunter grew their lead to as much as 15 points on four occasions with the last one coming at the 15:16 mark. However, the Hawks went cold while the visitors heated up and went on a torrid 21-4 run over the next 11:58 to take their first lead since the 3:49 mark of the first half.
With 20 seconds remaining, a made Brown layup made it a three point game at 66-63. However, last second attempts from the field were off the mark while Lehman's Phil Ductan and Soto sunk each of their two free throws to ice the game in the final seconds.
The Hawks return to action on Tuesday night, December 4 when they host Connecticut College in a non-conference contest. Tipoff is scheduled for a 7:30 pm start.
