Patchogue, NY – The men's basketball team had a non-conference matchup against the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's Long Island earlier this evening. Despite holding a double-digit lead for nearly the entire game, the hosts made a furious comeback forcing the game to come down to the wire. However, The Hawks managed to hang on until the end for their third win of the season, 106-104.
The Hawks had 13 players with at least two points with Reilly Cormac and
Luka Jakic each leading the attack with 14 points apiece. Three others also achieved double figures in the same category. Jakic,
Cole Earley and
Barrett Lowe combined for 22 rebounds on the evening while
Jared Brown dished out six assists. Hunter forced 31 turnovers and capitalized with 25 points from them while stealing the ball 24 times. As a team, they shot 41.7 percent from the floor and connected on 11 of 29 attempts from behind the arc.
It did not take long for Hunter (3-3) to get their high-powered offense going. Reilly hit back-to-back treys along with a made free throw to score a quick seven points within the first 2:02 of the half. The three pointers continued to rain with Earley and
Gene Propper each knocking down their attempts from behind the arc resulting in a 15-4 advantage. The Purple and Gold extended their lead to as much as 17 in the first half but allowed the hosts to crawl back to within nine in the latter stages of the opening act. Just before halftime, Jakic slammed home a dunk on a feed from
Jeremy Montrose to set the score at 46-35 heading into the break.
Just as he ended the first, Jakic opened the second half with a made layup. However, the Golden Eagles responded with eight unanswered points to pull within seven. At the 15:40 mark,
Elias Scott was fouled behind the arc, sending him to the charity stripe for three attempts in which he sunk each of them. Just after the halfway mark, Lowe made good on a triple to push his team's lead out to 19.
With just over two minutes left to play, Brown's made free throw gave his team a seemingly comfortable 11 point lead. However, the lead dwindled down to seven with 10 seconds left to play. St. Joseph's kept it interesting when Kevin O'Halloran made good on a triple and then Becir hot scored a deuce on a Hunter turnover to make it a two-point affair. As Hunter inbounded the ball, Propper was immediately fouled with 1.4 left to play and was sent to the line for two shots. Although he missed both, a last second hurl from three quarter court was off the mark, allowing Hunter to come away with the win.
The Hawks are back in action on Monday, November 29 when they host the Panthers of SUNY Purchase in the Sportsplex. First tip is slated for 6pm.
