Jamaica, N.Y.- The Hunter College men's basketball team traveled to York College where they took down the no. 4 seed, 91-83, in the opening round of the CUNYAC Tournament. With the win, the Hawks (10-16) advance to the semifinals where they will face rival and top-seeded Baruch College on Feb. 21.

The game started off with a back-and-forth but the Hawks quickly exploded for a 10-0 run leading 16-9 in the first five minutes of play. The Cardinals fought fought back to close the gap to one (31-30) with less than six minutes left in the first half but Hunter was determined to enter halftime with an edge, as the team pushed the lead back to seven, capitalized by a three from Gene Propper. With 2:30 left in the first half, the home team took the lead for the first time in over 10 minutes but Hunter was relentless until the break, as Jeremy Montrose put the Purple and Gold up 48-45 as the buzzer sounded.

The Cardinals took back the lead early in the second half of play, but an 8-2 run from the Hawks put Hunter back on top at 15:52. York was able to overcome the Hawks one more time but after a free throw by Jared Brown in the eighth minute to take the lead, Hunter would not lose it again. The Hawks played with a double-digit lead for the final 4:27 to build a game-high cushion of 17 points (93-65) with 54 seconds left.  

Cormac Reilly spearheaded the victory for Hunter, scoring a game-high 28 points (9-of-13 3FG) in 19 minutes of action. Luka Jakic tallied 16 points (10-of-15 FT), 16 boards and five assists. Ryan Lau added 10 points (2-of-8 FG, 5-of-5 FT). Enzo Caceres-Roussell dished out a game-best eight dimes.

The Cardinals shot 39.1 percent (27-of-69) from the floor, 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from downtown, and 58.5 percent (24-of-51) from the charity stripe. Hunter scored 35.6 percent (26-of-73) of its shots but made 17 threes (37.8 percent) in comparison. The Hawks also shot 66.7 percent (24-of-36) from the free throw line.

York held a slim margin (50-48) in rebounds and Hunter controlled the assist battle (22-16). Additionally, the Hawks held an edge in points off turnovers (24-17) and bench points (46-15). The Cardinals had more second-chance points (20-11), fast break points (32-24), and points in the paint (46-16).  

The Hawks are slated to face off against no. 1 Baruch on February 21st on the road.