New York, NY - The men's basketball team hosted the Privateers of SUNY Maritime in a non-conference matchup earlier this evening at the Sportsplex. With the score knotted at the end of regulation, the game went into overtime to decide the outcome. It was the visitors that came out on top of the 79-75 decision to set Hunter back to 0-5 on the year.
George Keener had the hot hand for the Purple and Gold and posted a game-high 29 points on an efficient 12-18 shooting from the field, 2-5 from deep and 3-3 from the charity stripe. Teammate
Gio Gabbidon added 17 points and six boards while
Luka Jakic did his part with six points and nine rebounds.
Hunter wasted no time building a double digit cushion at the 13:30 mark with the scoreboard reading 19-7 in their favor. The lead grew to as much as 13 at its peak thanks to a combination of hot shooting, out-rebounding their challengers and chalking up five steals. However, the Hawks went cold over the final 2:44, missing on their only two attempts from the field and turning the ball over twice. The result was a 12 point lead that dwindled down to just a five point upper hand, 36-31 at the half.
Leading for virtually the entire second half, Hunter opened the initial 2:30 with a 9-2 run, bookended by Keener layups. The Privateers did not go away though, staying within striking distance the whole time. With 57 seconds left, Gabbidon knocked down his two free throws to put his team up 66-61. Maritime's Alec Downes responded with two of his own from the charity stripe. On the Privateers next possession, Brendan McGovern knocked down the game-tying three pointer.
John Pelin called a timeout for his team with 23 seconds to draw up one last play. Luka took the last shot but was unable to connect, forcing overtime.
In overtime, Maritime struck first but a triple from
Jared Brown and a layup from Gabbidon tied it up once again with 54 seconds remaining. A Privateer trey forced Hunter to try and match the effort, but they came up short with tries from Brown, Gabbidon and
Melvin Collins with time expiring.
The Hawks continue to search for their first win and will be back in action on Tuesday, December 3 when they host Medgar Evers College in their first CUNYAC game of the season. Tip-off will be at 7pm.
