Hawks Edge Lions for Fifth Straight Victory
ERIE, PA - The visiting Hartwick College men's basketball team mounted another second-half comeback as the Hawks defeated Penn State Behrend, 57-54, on Saturday afternoon at the Junker Center. Hartwick improves its record to 5-0. It marks the program's first 5-0 start since the 2007-08 season. The Lions fall to 0-4 on the year.
Senior Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) led the team with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. He also added two blocks and two steals. Sophomore Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) contributed 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Senior Mark Blazek (Erie, PA/Erie Cathedral Prep) chipped in 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting and added two steals.
Russ Conley led the Lions with 16 points. Pat St. Andrews and Shane Skelly both contributed 10 points each.
Penn St. Behrend led for most of the first half and was ahead 34-27 at halftime. A 9-2 Hartwick run starting with 9:53 remaining would briefly give the Hawks a one-point lead, 21-20, with 7:28 remaining. The Lions would quickly grab the lead back as a 14-6 run to close the first half would give them a seven-point halftime lead.
A 13-4 'Wick run to begin the second half, capped off by a three-point play by Ryder, would give the Hawks a brief one-point lead of 39-38. Nine straight points by the Lions, however, would give them an eight point lead at 11:23.
The Hawks would storm back with a huge 14-2 run capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Suderley and Ryder that gave Hartwick a 53-49 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the game.
Penn-St Behrend would narrow the deficit to one following a layup and subsequent free throw from St. Andrews at 1:10. The Hawks killed almost a minute off the clock, but a shot-clock violation with 11 seconds remaining turned the ball back over to the Lions.
St. Andrews attempted to put his team up two with a three-point attempt with six seconds left on the clock but his effort was off the mark and the ball went out of bounds to the Hawks. After a Lion foul, Suderley's two free throws iced the game with 2.2 seconds to play. Conley's desperation three-point attempt missed the basket with time expiring.
"The Lions are a well-coached team and have good offense," said head coach Todd McGuinness. "In the second half, we defended really well. Ryder made some huge plays. Blazek played well in front of a home crowd, and as a team we had big plays down the stretch to come away with the victory."
Overall, Hartwick shot 52.2 % from the floor and made 85.7% of its free throws. The Hawks converted just over 27% of their three-point shots. The Lions struggled from beyond the three-point arc, shooting only 12.5%. The teams tied in rebounds with 26.