Men's Basketball's Late Comeback Falls Short vs. Hunter

Written by Justin Miller

Patchogue, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team lost a high-scoring thriller against Hunter College, 106-104, on Tuesday night inside the Danzi Center. 

The loss sends the Golden Eagles to 1-4 on the year as the Hawks improve to 3-3.

Sophomore Spencer Malloy had a strong game for the Golden Eagles with a 28-point double-double with 12 rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Timothy Hirdt added 18 points with a 42.9% field goal percentage, and freshman Alec Tabada went for 14 points, two steals, two blocks and seven assists.

Becir Hot shot 6-for-11 from the field and contributed 13 points off the bench.

Hunter got off to a fast start and took a 16-4 lead early in the contest. Despite the poor start, the Golden Eagles remained within striking distance and went into halftime down 11 points (46-35).

SJC started the second half well, but couldn't cut too far into Hunter's lead. Hunter started to pull away midway through the second half, taking a 19 point lead at 9:35, but late into regulation, SJC mounted a comeback. 

A pair of late three pointers by senior guard Kevin O'Halloran with under 30 seconds left brought the Golden Eagles to within four. The second three pointer preceded a steal by Jake Gaudiello and a made jumpshot by Becir Hot that trimmed the lead to two points with two seconds left on the clock. 

Hunter's Gene Propper missed both free throws on the next possession, but the two seconds remaining weren't enough for SJC to complete the comeback. 

SJC held the advantage in field goal percentage, shooting 47.6% to Hunter's 41.7%. However, they were significantly outpaced from three point range, only shooting 18.2% while Hunter shot at 37.9%. 

The Golden Eagles' next game will be on the road against Pratt on Saturday, November 27th at 4:00 PM.