BOX SCORE New York, N.Y.- The Hunter College men's basketball opened up play for 2023 with a 103-90 conference win over Medgar Evers in the Hunter Sportsplex on Tuesday evening with a dominating performance as the Hawks held the lead for all but 33 seconds in the game. The team's bench continued to be a factor, scoring 55 points compared to the Cougars' 22

The Hawks (4-8, 1-1 CUNYAC) got on the board first with a three-pointer from Jeremy Montrose. Ryan Lau and Cormac Reilly continued with threes of their own as Hunter held that lead until the 17th minute. The lead would change two more times before the home team separated itself with two 9-0 runs over Medgar Evers (3-8, 0-2 CUNYAC) in the first half. With under two minutes left in the first period, the Cougars came within two points, but the Hawks were able to keep the visitors off the board while adding four more points, heading into the intermission up 47-41.

Hunter held that lead for the second half of play, jumping out to 60-48 lead within the first four minutes. At 11:30, the Cougars were able to come within one but a time out by the Hawks helped them regain momentum and by 6:56, Hunter had widened the gap to 10 with a layup by Luka Jakic.

As the two teams approached the final two minutes of play, Hunter broke 100 points for the fifth time this season. They tacked on an additional three points, to take home their first conference win of the season, 103-90.

Ryan Lau led all scorers on the night, with 31 points including seven three-pointers. He shot 64.3& overall and 63.6% from three in addition to 75% from the line. Devon Matthews followed with 18 points, in addition to nine rebounds and four assists. Ernie Parada added 11 points of his own while grabbing two steals and four rebounds for the Hawks.

On the defensive side of the ball, Gene Propper had a team-high four steals while Alioune Mbengue had a trio of blocks to contribute to the Hawks' 39 points off of turnovers, compared to Medgar Evers' 20.

Hunter returns to the court on Friday January 6 as they travel to Lehman for another conference game at 5:00 p.m.