New York NY – The men's basketball team hosted the Bloodhounds of John Jay earlier this evening with the #2 seed up for grabs in the CUNYAC Championship Tournament. Despite a career-high performance from Danny Fusco on senior night, team dropped a narrow 89-81 decision to cap the regular season in the Sportsplex.
 
With the loss, Hunter (10-15, 8-6 CUNYAC) secured the #4 seed in the conference tournament and will begin play in the quarterfinal on Saturday

For the Hawks, Fusco used a 50 percent shooting clip from the field with a 9-10 performance from the charity stripe to account for 26 points. Also reaching double-figures was Gio Gabbidon, who was nearly perfect from the free throw line and added six field goals to register 22 points. The Bloodhounds (19-5, 12-1 CUNY) saw five different players score double-digits, led by Jayson Brower who was responsible for 19 points. 
 
John Jay scored the first basket of the contest for the quick and early lead and managed to hold on to for the rest of the game. The hosts came to within one, but Dan Kenny poured in six points in a 9-4 run in favor of the Bloodhounds to keep the Hawks at bay with 4:43 left in the first half. Hunter was held quiet in the ensuing minutes as John Jay rattled off a 12-3 run to head into the locker room with a 16-point advantage. 
 
Coming out of the halftime break, Fusco scored eight consecutive points for Hunter College, bringing the Bloodhound lead down to 12. John Jay grew their lead to as much as 20 - with 5:20 left in regulation - but a 16-4 run in favor of the Purple and Gold brought them within eight at the 1:46 mark. Melvin Collins drained a three-pointer that saw the home team trailing by four, but John Jay used timely fouls and success at the charity stripe to close out the game with an 89-81 decision. 
 
The first round of the CUNYAC Championships is slated to begin on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1:00pm Hunter will host #5 Brooklyn at a time to be determined.