New York, NY - The men's basketball team kicked off the 2016 calendar year the right way as they earned their first victory of the season by defeating the Bloodhounds of John Jay by a score of 77-64. After taking a 10 point lead in the first half, the Purple and Gold held off their counterparts in the second and secured the victory by a 13 point margin. With the win the Hawks' record now stands at 1-11 and 1-3 in CUNYAC play.
Brian Kruger led all scorers with a game high 19 points on 4-9 shooting from the field and going 9-12 from the charity stripe.
Amer Lukac's .500 shooting from the floor resulted in 15 points to compliment his seven rebounds while
Alex Mattina chipped in with 12 points of his own.
Matt Franks rounded out the quartet with 11 points and six boards.
As a team, the Hawks shot 43.5 percent from the floor, made eight three-pointers and scored 29 of their points from the charity stripe over 39 tries. Additionally, they won the battle on the boards, outrebounding the visitors, 38-34.
The early Hawk lead was erased at the 16:16 mark when Jesse Higgins sunk a trey to give John Jay their first lead of the game. The advantaged hovered between four and six points for eight minutes until Kruger drilled a triple to make it even at 23 apiece. On the ensuing possession, Kruger sank another shot from downtown and with contributions from Franks and
Bryan Silvera, the Hawks used an 11-0 run to go up by 11 with less than three minutes to play in the half. Kruger's two made freethrows to close out the half put the Purple and Gold up 40-30 as they headed into halftime.
The visitors quickly began chipping away at the Hawk's lead, eventually bringing it to within a basket at the 16:40 mark, 42-40. However, it would be as close as they would get. Despite to pulling within five with 3:47 left to play, Hunter a triple from Franks gave his team an eight point cushion. Over the final 2:07, the hosts sank eight out of their final 12 free throws to seal the deal, 77-64.
Up next, the Hawks take on Manhattanville College on the road tomorrow, January 3 at 3pm.
