Alain De La Cruz has had his fair share of ups and downs during his four years playing for the Lightning, and on a night where he was being honored along with fellow senior Victor Garcia for their contributions to the program, he was hoping to end his final regular season home game on a high note.

Instead, the visiting Hunter Hawks spoiled the memory, beating the Lightning 69-63 to continue a Lehman slide that has now reached five consecutive conference losses and dropped the team to 5-7 overall in the City University of New York Athletic Conference.

Similar to its most recent game against Baruch, the Lightning trailed for nearly the entire game. However, unlike that contest, Lehman, despite falling behind by as many as nine points in the first half, managed to remain within striking distance as the game wore on.

Jonathan DeJesus' layup with 12:56 remaining knotted the score at 44, only to have Mark Courtien nail a three-pointer to give the Hawks the lead right back. Hunter would push its advantage to eight, 58-50, with eight minutes left.

But on back-to-back possessions De La Cruz and Stanley Stephens, who has been seeing increased playing time over the last two games, canned three-pointers to cut the deficit to two. A layup by Panagiotis Koutsoloukas extended to a 60-56 lead for Hunter, which is where the Lightning's Achilles heel on the night – its ineffectiveness at the free throw line – began to emerge.

With several chances to cut into the deficit over the final 6:30, the Lightning missed five free throws, which ultimately was its undoing. For the game, Lehman shot 5-for-16 from the line. Hunter, though far from perfect, was good enough, knocking down five in a row with less than a minute to play and the Hawks clinging to the lead after a De La Cruz three-pointer cut the Lightning deficit to 64-62.

On the night, Lehman posted three players in double figures, with Garcia finishing with 17 points, Jonathan DeJesus with 12 points, and Samuel Batista with 11 points. For Batista, it was another tough game from the floor as he shot 4-for-11. Over his last three contests the Lightning sharpshooter has been unable to find the range, shooting a combined 12-for-43.

Hunter was led in the win by junior Anthony Uter's 22 points and 10 rebounds and 17 points from Mark Courtien (3-of-4 from three-point territory).

The Lightning closes out its regular season on Saturday when it faces John Jay College on the road to determine its seeding for the upcoming CUNYAC Championships.