NEW YORK, NY – A new page in the storied history book of the Baruch and Hunter College men's basketball teams was written today. The Bearcats scored five points in the final 19 seconds of the second half to force overtime where they managed to push ahead and steal a 68-66 victory over the Hunter Hawks in the CUNYAC/Con Edison quarterfinal matchup at the ARC Arena on Saturday afternoon.

An up and down second period boiled down to the final 30 seconds of play.  The Hawks lead by as many as six points on two occasions in the stanza, including the 28 second mark when Joel Cerda connected on his second free throw attempt to make it a 55-49 game in Hunter's favor. Two costly fouls ensued shortly thereafter as Chris Beauchamp knocked down a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left to go before converting three more attempts with 14 seconds remaining to force the game into overtime.

Both teams struggled to find the basket early on in the overtime period with Beauchamp striking again to break the tie at 3:56 when he hit his second free throw, making it a 56-55 game in favor of the Bearcats. Fuat Yapar knocked down a big three pointer to give the Bearcats a four point lead with 1:58 left to play but Mark Courtien came in clutch and cut the deficit to two points (65-63) with 25 seconds left to play after draining a three-ball of his own. A Hunter foul cost the Hawks two more points before  Panagiotis Koutsoloukas stepped back and hit a three-ball with four seconds remaining to make it a 67-66 affair but another Hawk foul resulted in Baruch's final point with a second remaining, sealing the 68-66 victory for the Bearcats.

Koutsoloukas led the Hawks with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Anthony Uter and Joel Cerda each chipped in with 10.
 
The Bearcats and Hawks found themselves tied at 24-all after a back and forth battle in the first. The Hawks just couldn't close out as it saw a nine-point lead erased as the Bearcats closed the half on a 13-0 run to tie the contest.

Plagued by 14 turnovers, the Hawks struggled to find an offensive groove, shooting just 32.8% from the field and 29.4% from distance. Hunter connected on just 23-41 free throw attempts (56.1%) in tonight's loss.  

The Hawks finish the season 11-15 overall. Baruch advances to the semifinals and will face College of Staten Island on Tuesday, February 21^st at 6pm at CCNY.