New York, N.Y.— The John Jay men’s basketball team lost on the road Friday as the Bloodhounds were defeated by Hunter College 72-66. John Jay is now 3-5 (0-2 CUNYAC).
The Bloodhounds, now on a four game losing streak, were paced by Hakeem Kased (Brooklyn, NY / Franklin D. Roosevelt) who recorded a team-high 19 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. He shot 8-for-13 from the field in the contest.
Fellow teammate Vaughn Mason (Bronx, NY / Alfred E. Smith) recorded 18 points and grabbed six boards.
Hunter College led through the early portion of the first half, and led by as much as five in the early stages. But down 13-8 less than five minutes into the affair, John Jay outscored the host Hawks 13-6 over the next five minutes to grab a brief 21-19 lead midway though the opening stanza on a tip-in by William Smallwood (Bronx, NY / Cardinal Hayes), his lone field goal of the evening.
Both teams traded leads over the next several minutes in a first half that had nine ties. John Jay took a four point lead late in the first half (35-31 at the 1:16 mark) on a jumper by Chris Jaeger (Hicksville, NY / Hicksville) who had four points, eight rebounds, and three steals before fouling out of the game. John Jay went into halftime with a 35-33 lead.
The Bloodhounds opened the second half on a 12-0 run to take a 47-33 lead. But Hunter answered right back with a 17-2 of its own to take its first lead of the second half, a 50-49 advantage with 10:04 to play.
Both teams went nip and tuck the rest of the way and neither team led by more than three.
But down by one (66-65) with 1:20 to play, Hunter closed out the game on a 7-0 run to snatch the win, giving John Jay its second consecutive conference loss this season.
John Jay returns to action on Sat. Dec. 8 at SUNY New Paltz at 6 p.m.
