Bronx, N.Y. – On Friday evening, January 25, the Hunter College men's basketball team took on the Lightning of Lehman College in a CUNYAC matchup. In a back and forth affair that came down to the wire, the Hawks clawed their way back from a 13 point deficit and nearly completed the comeback but did not have enough in the final seconds and fell in the 74-71 thriller. With the loss, Hunter drops to 7-12, 4-6 CUNYAC while Lehman now stands at 7-12, 2-8 CUNYAC.

The Hawks had scoring efforts from all 11 players who saw the floor; led by Eric Kippins and Peter Koutsoloukas, each of whom scored 10 points. Taulant Ibraj added nine points while Lester Anim chipped in with eight points to go along with nine boards. Jerrell Antely and Robert Borusiewicz combined for 14 points and five rebounds in the loss.

For Lehman, Phil Ductan led all-comers with 14 points on 5-10 shooting from the field. Teammates Kelvin Gil and Anthony Rodriguez had an even split of 26 points and pulled down a combine 10 misses.

The first 5:49 featured three ties and five lead changes with either side getting ahead by more than three points. A five point Hunter lead turned into and eight point cushion on a deep three from Ibraj at the 10:06 mark. Lehman pulled within one and then took the lead off of a Quaseem Weems bucket from inside the paint, but it was short lived as Matthew Hunter put in his first bucket of the game to allow the Hawks to regain the lead.

Over the final seven minutes of the half, the Purple and Gold would rebuild their lead to a seven point cushion, but Lehman closed the first act on a 7-0 run to make it a two point game.

The second began much like the first with the game being knotted on four occasions within the opening six minutes. The Hawks saw a four point advantage at the 12:46 mark go south after Lehman unleashed a vicious 18-2 run spanning over six minutes to set them back by 12.

Just as the game looked like it was out of reach at the 4:14 mark with the Hawks down by 13, they began a furious comeback which began with an Ibraj jumper. With help from four forced Lehman turnovers, the doors were left open for Hunter to storm through. Their 11-1 run was capped with a layup from Borusiewicz to make it a three point game with the Hawks trailing 71-68.

With 47 seconds showing on the clock, Terrhon Vaughn made good on a jumper to pull the Purple and Gold to within one. After a quick foul, Gil made one of two from the charity stripe to put Lehman up by a deuce.  On the other end of the court, attempts by Lester and Borusiewicz in efforts to knot the game were off the mark which resulted in a foul on the Lightning's Yve Jay Modi to send him to the line. After making one of two, the Hawks cruised down court for one final attempt. With three seconds left, Antley's attempted three pointer was just off the mark as the Hawks were unable to complete the comeback and would fall 74-71.

The Hawks return to action on Monday, January 28 when they head into Brooklyn for a CUNYAC contest against the Cougars of Medgar Evers College. Tipoff is scheduled for an 8pm start.