New York, NY - In a tightly contested CUNYAC battle at The Doghouse on Wednesday night, the defending league champions, the John Jay Bloodhounds, rallied past the visiting Hunter College Hawks, 75-70.

Four Bloodhounds finished in double-figures, led by Aidony Nivar, who tallied a team-leading 21 points on 9 of 16 shooting off the bench in 25 minutes of action. Keyshawn Miller came close to a triple-double, finishing the contest with 19 points on 7 of 16 shooting while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds, dishing out eight assists, recording four steals, and adding a block.

Adrian Kopec netted 16 points, two of which sealed the victory on a driving layup with 19 seconds remaining in the contest. Jamir Stewart added 13 points in 31 minutes of work.

John Paul Maaba led the way for the visitors with 24 points on 8 of 14 shooting while playing the full 40 minutes. Jayden Jarrett added 18 points on 8 of 15 shooting while notching a double-double, grabbing a team-high ten rebounds, nine coming on the defensive end.

Hunter jumped out to an early 5-0 lead before the Bloodhounds rallied back by outscoring the Hawks, 13-8, over seven minutes to tie the game at 13. The Hawks extended their lead to 24-19 on a Sloan Ireland layup before the Bloodhounds answered back in the form of a 9-0 run, capped by a Miller turnaround jumper after getting the feed from Myles Tucker with 6:15 left to play before halftime, as John Jay led 28-24.

Both teams traded buckets for the remainder of the half before Stewart dialed up a three-pointer for the home squad with seven seconds left.

The Hawks shot 51.5 percent from the field (17 of 33) while the Bloodhounds were held to 40.6 percent (13 of 32). John Jay converted on their chances from the outside in the opening frame, hitting on 40.0 percent (6 of 15) while limiting the Hawks to just a 3 of 11 shooting performance over the first 20 minutes (27.3 percent).

Both teams opened the second half with a pair of three-pointers and continued to trade points with the game knotted at 53 with 12:00 minutes left following a Hunter jumper from Georgios Gatasias.

John Jay sparked a 12-5 run over four minutes to lead 65-58 following a step-back jumper from Miller. The visitors got to within one on a Jarrett jumper with 3:42 remaining, but on the ensuing Bloodhound possession, Nivar was able to hit the pull-up jumper to push the lead to 70-67. 

Nivar hit a left-wing three-pointer that made it 73-68 in favor of John Jay as Hunter called for time. Maaba made two free throws with 45 seconds left, but a driving layup from Kopec sealed the game for the Bloodhounds.

For the game, John Jay shot 38.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from long range, while Hunter converted on 52.0 percent from the field (27 of 52) while connecting on 40.0 percent from the outside (7 of 18).

The Bloodhounds were outrebounded, 39-35, but held a 15-6 edge on the offensive glass.

John Jay will head to Baruch on Saturday, January 10, as they will tip off from ARC Arena at 4:00 p.m.