New York, NY – The men's basketball team had the Homecoming nightcap as they took on the Cougars of Medgar Evers College in a CUNYAC matchup earlier this evening. After taking a 12 point lead at the half, the Hawks held steady in the second and came away with the 67-59 victory to cap Homecoming. The win gives the Purple and Gold a 4-2 overall record and a 2-0 conference mark while Medgar Evers drops to 1-5, 0-1 CUNYAC.
 
Matt Franks was an economical 6-9 from the floor and led the offense with 17 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Teammate Amer Lukac found his stroke in the second half and tallied 13 points in the game. Overall, there were six Hawks who contributed to the scoring efforts while they were credited with 17 steals and forced 23 turnovers on the defensive end.
 
It was a sluggish start for both teams after they combined for five turnovers and went without a field goal for nearly two minutes. Medgar Evers' Joancarlo Bonilla broke the silence with a triple while teammate Justin Sutton followed with a deuce to make it 5-0 in favor of the visitors. Lukac got the ball rolling with a free throw that sparked an 8-0 run to put the Hawks out in front. Another big 13-2, bookmarked by lay ups from Gerard Carty and Franks ballooned the lead to 12.
 
A bucket from Joevanny Dambreville at the 5:38 mark brought the game to within six but Mamadou Sakho drilled a triple and Danny Fusco sunk one of two from the charity stripe to give the Purple and Gold a double-digit lead once again. With 14 seconds left in the half, Lukac connected in a trey to send the game into halftime with the Hawks up 36-24.
 
Each team traded three pointers to kick off the final act with Bonilla and Lukac both successful on their tries. Hunter's lead hovered around the ten point mark but jumped up to as much as 13 when Dominic Cotumaccio connected from behind the arc with 12:50 showing on the clock.
 
The Cougars brought the game to within eight at 8:55 when Sutton sank one of two from foul line and then cut it to seven after Maurice Swaby's two free throws nearly a minute later. However, it's as close as the visitors would get. Down the stretch, Hunter once again pushed their lead out to double figures which proved to be insurmountable with little time remaining. The final score was 67-59 in favor of the Hawks.
 
Hunter returns to action on Sunday, December 4 when they take on the Violets of NYU in a non-conference matchup. Tip off is slated for a 1pm start.