The Maritime College men's basketball team dropped a close 84-81 decision at home to Hunter College on Tuesday night. The Privateers scrapped and clawed their way back into the game in the closing minutes, but the comeback attempt fell short and Maritime fell to 1-2 overall while the Hawks improve to 1-0. 

Maritime got off to a slow start in the game cause by multiple turnovers on offense and they found themselves trailing 11-4 through the first five minutes. However, a pair of three's from Brendan McGovern (Seaford, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) and another from Ryan Donovan (North Salem, N.Y./North Salem) tied up the game at 15 with just over 13 minutes remaining. The Privateers couldn't keep that momentum rolling though and saw the Hawks regain an eight-point lead later in the half. Once again, Maritime slowly chipped away at the lead, but was unable to take the lead going into halftime as Hunter escaped with a 40-38 advantage.

Less than two minutes into the second half, the Privateers took their first lead of the game behind a Ronan Doherty (Danbury, Conn./Immaculate) three. The Hawks weren't going to let their season-opener slip away though and were always able to keep it a one-possession game. 

With just over 14 minutes left in the game, Chris Ruscillo (Carle Place, N.Y./Carle Place) drained a corner three to give Maritime a 51-50 advantage. Unfortunately, that would end up being the final lead of the game for the Privateers as Hunter slowly took back control of the game and eventually took an 11-point lead with 1:09 remaining. 

Despite the large deficit, Maritime never gave up and kept the energy in Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium high. Good penetration from Brennan Whelan (Northport, N.Y./Northport) opened up Ruscillo for a layup to bring the lead back within single digits. Less than 10 seconds later, McGovern buried a deep three to make it a six-point game with 52 seconds left on the clock. Hunter responded well and converted on the following possession to keep the Privateers at bay. 

The Hawks held an eight-point lead with 21 seconds remaining and the game appeared to be over, however, McGovern heated up at the right time and nailed three straight incredible shots from behind the arc to make it a one-point game with two seconds left. Unfortunately, two seconds wasn't enough time for McGovern and the Privateers as the Hawks drained both free throws and then played solid defense to prevent a long inbounds pass and miracle shot.

"Obviously it was disappointing to come up short tonight," said head coach Mike Berkun. "However, we will draw a lot of positives from this performance and I was impressed with the way we fought until the end."

McGovern dropped 25 points for Maritime and finished up with six threes for the second straight game. Whelan finished with a double-double for the Privateers tallying 11 points and 11 assists, while Michael Walker (Bayport, N.Y./Bayport-Blue Point) also reached double digits at 11 points and 6-6 from the free-throw line.

The Privateers travel to SUNY New Paltz on Friday at 7 p.m. for another non-conference matchup before opening up Skyline play on the road at St. Joseph's Long Island on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 5:30 p.m.