Brooklyn, NY---In another battle that came down to the final minute, the Brooklyn College men's basketball dropped their CUNYAC opener at home this evening to Hunter College, 80-75.  The Bulldogs dip below .500 overall on the season at 2-3 with the loss.  Hunter improves to 3-2 with the victory.  Brooklyn will be on the road on Saturday at Stevens Tech.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 pm in Hoboken, NJ.

Trailing by 11 points with a little over five minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs clawed their way back to a one possession game (75-78) with twelve seconds to go on an acrobatic Anaselrahman Abdu lay-in.  However, the Hawks iced the game on the next possession converting on both free-throw attempts as BC was forced to foul to stop the clock.  

Brooklyn was in control of the game in the first half despite senior center Enees Nikovic picking up two early fouls limiting his action through the first twenty minutes.  Three Bulldogs reached double-figures in scoring in the first half alone to pick Brooklyn up.  Freshman swingman Henry O'Reilly paced the Bulldogs with 11 first half points.  Brooklyn would grab a 41-34 halftime lead on a buzzer beating put-back by senior guard Valdon Baptiste.  The Bulldogs opened the game with back-to-back three-point makes by junior guard Maynard Grant IV and O'Reilly. 

Hunter would turn the tables in the opening minute of the second half, tying the game 41-41 with a quick 7-0 run.  Hunter would then respond to an Austin Wood three-point make with 16:42 on the clock with a long ball of their own to take a 47-46 lead.  They wouldn't trail the Bulldogs for the rest of the game. 

The Bulldogs were led by junior forward Anaselrahman Abdu's game-high 18 points.  He also grabbed ten rebounds on the evening for his first double-double at BC.  Senior guard Austin Wood added 16 points and dished out eight assists.