The Baruch College Bearcats lost a tough CUNYAC contest (59-57) to the Hawks of Hunter College on Thursday night at the 16th Annual Battle of Lexington.

The Bearcats in front of a large and boisterous home crowd took a 12-point (18-6) lead during the first half, but the visiting Hawks narrowed the score to four (30-26) at halftime.

The two teams each led during the second half in a back-and-forth affair, but the contest came to be decided in the final minutes.

Hunter's Gio Gabbidon scored with 2:12 left to give the Hawks a 57-56 lead.

The score remained that way until Adnan Bajrami hit a free throw to tie it at 57 with just 32 seconds left.

Gabbidon scored again for a 59-57 advantage and that forced the Bearcats to tie it with 12 seconds on the clock.

Unfortunately, they couldn't get the shot to drop and Hunter was fouled on the rebound with a second remaining.

Hunter missed the free throw to keep the contest alive, but the Bearcats couldn't get a shot off with one second left to suffer the home loss.

Bajrami led the Bearcats this evening with 13 points and five rebounds. Emil Perisic had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Jonah Bevacqua was tops for the visiting Hawks with 15 points.