Box Score
NEW YORK, NY – The York College men’s basketball team held off a late rally by Hunter College and went on to defeat the Hawks, 68-65, in a CUNY Athletic Conference contest Wednesday evening. The Cardinals (13-5, 7-0 CUNYAC) have now won nine straight games and remain undefeated in CUNYAC play.
York held an eight-point advantage with seven minutes remaining in the game, when the Hawks began to rally. Hunter (7-10, 3-3 CUNYAC) scored on three consecutive possessions, with four points coming from Maxwell Dubois and cut the lead to one points (63-62) with 3:25 to play. The Cardinals quickly went back up by four points thanks to a three-pointer by Nicholas Hamilton-Lopez. After about 1:30 without any scoring, Hamilton-Lopez converted one of two free throws to put York up by five.
On the Hawks next possession, Mark Courtien drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to two points (67-65) with 44 seconds to play. The Cardinals struggled with free throws in the final minute and gave the Hawks a chance to tie the game. York’s Ryan Exum converted one of two shots from the charity stripe to put the Cardinals up by three.
Hunter had a chance to tie on its next possession but missed a three-pointer, giving the ball back to York. However, the Cardinals quickly turned the ball back over to the Hawks. Dubois was then called for an offensive foul and York once again took possession with 12 seconds to play. The struggles from the line continued for York, however, as Hamilton-Lopez missed both free throws to give the Hawks one more chance to tie the game. Hunter’s Izzy Hoffman then turned the ball over with four seconds left essentially ending the game.
York was led by Marcel Esonwune, who finished with 22 points, 20 boards and three blocks. Shamir Wilkinson added 14 points and eight boards, while Elijah Evelyn netted 11 points. Exum had a solid all-around game with ten points, eight boards, five assists and four steals. Hunter was led by Courtien who finished with a team-high 19 points.
York will look to make it ten in a row when they host Berkeley College on Friday at 6:00 p.m.