Jamaica, NY – The men's basketball team took on the Cardinals of York College earlier this evening in a conference contest. Despite coming from behind to tie the game in the latter stages of the second, the Hawks were unable to pull away with the win down the stretch and fell by a score of 81-69. The loss drops them to 9-11 overall, 6-6 in CUNYAC action.
 
George Keener led the Hawks with a 17 point, eight rebound effort which included a 5-5 performance from the charity stripe. Danny Fusco added 10 points and five assists in the loss while Amer Lukac and Gio Gabbidon had an even split of 16 points.
 
Keener, on an assist from Fusco, knocked down the game's opening jumper which proved to be the only lead the Hawks would enjoy in the half. York quickly responded with seven unanswered points of their own to go ahead by five. The Purple and Gold went cold during a 2:10 stretch while their counterparts scored 10 straight points to widen the gap at 25-9, the largest differential of the half.
 
Keener stopped the bleeding with a trey while Fusco scored five more to cut the deficit to eight. With 1:03 remaining, the Hawks pulled to within three, but two made free throws from Ryan Smart and a triple from Taishaun Forehand-Jenkins with three seconds left sent the Hawks into the half down 41-33.
 
To open the second, Lukac sunk two from the charity stripe while Gabbidon knocked down a three pointer to bring their team to within three. After almost two minutes without a point by either side, Gabbidon found the bottom of the net with another deuce to make it a one point affair. At the 13:48 mark, Keener's two free throws leveled the playing field at 47 a piece; the first tie since the opening minute of the game.
 
However, the Purple and Gold went cold from the floor and fell into a double-digit deficit reaching as much as 18 with just under two minutes to play. The gap proved too much to overcome as they came away with the loss.
 
The men's basketball team is back in action on Saturday, February 3^rd as they host Neumann University as part of the CUNYAC/CSAC Challenge. Tip off is slated for a 1pm start.