Maybe it was the cold weather, maybe it was the stress of the first day of the semester, whatever you want to call it, and CCNY’s Men’s basketball team just didn’t have it against Hunter Wednesday night.
By Jeff WeisingerWith just six games left in the regular season, the Beavers chances of barely making it into the CUNYAC playoffs in the end of February seem more and more bleak. Then again, for a team that’s shot enough bricks to build another Freedom Tower that should not be a shock to anyone at all.CCNY’s Men’s Basketball team lost their fourth straight game Wednesday night at Nat Holman Gym, losing 73-60 to the Hunter Hawks, giving Hunter the season sweep against the Beavers.CCNY had one of the worse starts of any game this season, allowing Hunter to open the first nine minutes of the game on a 20-5 run, with all five points coming off of a layup and a three-pointer by point guard Manfred Cadet.“We just didn’t come out with fire in our bellies, and why that was I have no idea,” Beavers head coach Tom Green said.The Beavers went neck and neck with Hunter in the early goings, taking a 5-4 lead after the aforementioned three-pointer by Cadet, however Hunter caught fire, going on a 16-0 run in a five minute span.After a timeout, The Beavers went on a 29-15 run to end the half, trailing Hunter 35-34, including taking a quick 34-33 lead off of Salman Hasan’s three-pointer with 1:03 left in the half. Hunter regained the lead, 35-34 on the following possession. The 15-point rally in the first half is one of the largest rallies for the Beavers all season.However, after shooting 43.3 percent from the court and making 2-of-9 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, the Beavers magic began to disappear in the second.Hunter opened the second half on an 11-2 run in the first five minutes of the half, taking a 48-36 lead to go up by double digits again.Despite opening the second half cold, the Beavers mustered up enough magic to spark another rally, going on a 16-11 run to pull within three, 59-56 with 7:21 left. The Beavers rally fizzled away after Hunter ended the game outscoring City 14-4 in the final seven minutes.“It’s the same old story: we’re just not shooting the ball well,” Green mentioned. “We keep getting offensive rebounds and can’t put the ball in the basket.”City went just 11-for-33 from the court in the second half, including 0-for-9 from beyond the arc and 4-for-9 from the free throw line.Senior forward Anthony Lewis recorded another double-double on the night, scoring a game-high 20 points with 15 rebounds with Khalil Hamer scoring 11 as both were once again the only players to score in double digits for City.“It’s a see-saw situation,” Lewis said. “One day we’re great offensively, the next day were down offensively and we just got to put it to where we’re 50-50 and come out with a win.”The Beavers (6-12, 1-10 CUNYAC) will try to get a much needed win at home Friday night against a tough Lehman College team (13-7, 8-3 CUNYAC) that is half-a-game behind Staten Island for second place in the CUNYAC.Despite struggling in conference play throughout the season, Lewis is confident that City can pull what would be their biggest upset of the year.“Lehman is enormous,” he said. “They think that we’re not good, but we’re good. We just beat ourselves. I’m going to make sure as a team we win this game Friday.”