The third-seeded Baruch Bearcats suffered a 68-63 defeat to sixth-seeded Hunter College in a CUNYAC/Con Edison Men's Basketball quarterfinal round contest on Sunday afternoon in the ARC Arena.

The Bearcats (15-11) took control early to build a 28-20 halftime advantage on 46 percent (11-24) shooting. Hunter struggled shooting 31 percent (8-26) and committed nine turnovers.

In the second half, Baruch continued to lead and were up by six points (58-53) with 3:32 left in regulation. Hunter (13-13) rallied and scored the next seven points, highlighted by a long three from Jeffrey Daza, to take their first lead at 60-58 with just 39 seconds remaining.

Baruch would quickly battle back to take a brief advantage of 62-61 on a layup by Sean Loftuswith 19 seconds left, but Hunter clinched the quarterfinal upset by connecting on all six of their free throws in the final 16 seconds to advance to the semifinal round.

Loftus led Baruch with a game-high 16 points and three blocked shots. Chris Beauchamp, who was honored pre-game with his parents by receiving a career 1,000 point ball, narrowly missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.

Lionel Hilairerounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points, six assists and two steals. William Falkenhainerled the team defensively with 10 rebounds.

Hunter, who shot 48 percent (14-29) in the second half, was led in the scoring column by Mark Courtien with 15 points and six rebounds. John Akinyemi scored 12 points (4-4 fg) and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Baruch Bearcats (15-9 vs Div. III competition) will now await a possible berth to the ECAC Metro Postseason Championship Tournament (Eight Team Field) scheduled to begin with quarterfinal round games on Wednesday, March 2nd. The entire field will be announced during the afternoon of Monday, February 28th.