New York, NY --- The Brooklyn College Men's Basketball team erased a 17-point second half deficit by outscoring the Hunter College Hawks, 41-26, in the final period to propel to the Bulldogs to the 76-71 victory on Friday at the Hunter Sportsplex.

With the win, BC extended its winning streak to five in a row to move to 10-12 overall on the season and 6-7 in the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNY), while Hunter drops to 10-11 overall on the year and 6-7 in conference play.

The win also gives the Bulldogs the season series sweep against the Hawks, as Brooklyn defeated Hunter, 79-65, back on January 15th at the West Quad Center.

Sophomore Egzon Gjonbalaj scored a team-high 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field, including going 3-for-6 from three and 4-for-4 from the line. He also dished out seven assists, to go along with five rebounds and three steals. Classmate Jamel Gist added 19 points and five rebounds, while junior Jai Kellman chipped in with 17 points coming off the bench.

Hunter's Frankie Drayton led all scorers with 30 points, while Brian Kruger finished with 12 points.

The first half saw four ties and three lead changes through the first nine minutes of the game. Following a three-pointer from Kellman that gave the Bulldogs its largest lead of the first half, 19-14, at the 13:12 mark, the Hawks rattled off 10 straight points to take a five-point advantage of its own, 24-19, midway through the half.

A layup from Gist would later cut the visitors deficit to one, 30-29, with 6:51 remaining before the intermission break; however, that's as close as BC would get the rest of the period, as Hunter closed out the half on a 15-6 run to take a 45-35 cushion into the locker room.

The Hawks would continue to build on its double-digit advantage and would eventually lead by as many as 17, 54-37, with 16:02 left in the game. The visitors would not go down lightly; however, as the Bulldogs used a 39-17 run to close out the game and come away with the five-point victory, 76-71.

Gjonbalaj and Gist combined to score 24 of BC's 41 points in the second half to fuel the Brooklyn comeback. The Bulldogs' offense also shot an even 50% (13-for-26) from the field in the second half.

Hunter's offense struggled throughout the second half shooting just 25.0% (5-for-20) in the period. The visitors also scored 15 points off of 13 Hawks turnovers in the second half.

For the game, BC shot 54.9% (28-for-51) from the field, including 35.7% (5-for-14) from three. The Bulldogs also converted 78.9% (15-for-19) from the free throw line.

The Hawks shot just 39.6% (21-for-53) from the field and 34.6% (9-for-26) from beyond the arc. Hunter also went 20-for-26 (76.9%) from the line.

Brooklyn will end its regular season with three straight home games, as the Bulldogs will host The City College of New York (Tuesday, February 11th; 7:15 pm), York College (Saturday, February 15th; 2:45 pm) and John Jay College of Criminal Justice (Tuesday, February 18th; 7:15 pm).  The Bulldogs will look to continue their solid play and close out the season with a potential top-four seed and home court advantage for the upcoming CUNYAC Championships.