New York, NY – The eighth seeded men's basketball team traveled downtown to host their conference rivals and fifth seeded Bearcats of Baruch College in the first round of the 2016 CUNYAC Men's Basketball Tournament. Despite outscoring their counterparts by seven in the second half, the Hawk's slow first half proved to do them in as they fell by a final score of 68-61. The loss puts a cap on their 2015-16 season with a final record of 3-23 overall and 3-13 in CUNYAC action.
 
Brian Kruger was the offensive leader for the Hawks as he scored 21 points and was an efficient 8-10 from the charity stripe. Alex Mattina and Amer Lukac each chipped in with 11 points apiece while Matt Franks made his presence known down low by grabbing 10 rebounds.
 
Each team missed their initial three field goal attempts to start the game until Isaac Doyin broke the silence with a layup. Baruch quickly went up, 7-0 and then 11-2 to build a lead in the early stages of the half. However, slowly chipping away at the lead, Hunter gradually came back and on a converted three-point play from Lukac, Hunter pulled within three points at the 21-18 mark with 5:11 left to play. However, five turnovers in their final eight possessions, coupled by  two missed three pointers opened the doors for Baruch to close the half on a 13-3 run, making it a 37-23 affair at halftime.
 
Kruger knocked down and opening second half trey which was followed up by a Gerard Carty deuce and another triple from Mattina to quickly bring the Hawks within striking distance as they were down by eight. A layup from Franks at the 12:55 mark brought the Purple and Gold to within two points after a layup, but Baruch responded with seven straight points. Once again, Hunter slipped into a double digit deficit but did not go away silently as they pulled to within four after a Bryan Silvera layup set the scoreboard to 63-59 with just 1:18 left to play. However, it would be as close as they would get as as the Purple and Gold missed on their next three field goal attempts as Baruch pulled away, resulting in a 68-61 loss.