Ryder Hits 1,000 Point Milestone as Hartwick Defeats Nazareth
ONEONTA, NY- Senior forward Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) joined an exclusive club as he hit the 1,000 point milestone for his career as he led a balanced attack against Nazareth in an 87-65 victory on Saturday night at Lambros Arena. Hartwick is now 15-2 and tied for second place in the Empire 8 with a record of 4-2. Nazareth is 11-6 and is tied with the Hawks in the standings.
Ryder reached his milestone on a jumper from the right side of the basket with 58 seconds left in the game. He finished with 22 points on 10-for-19 shooting to lead the team and also grabbed 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double game of the season. Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) scored 20 points and had seven rebounds. Mark Blazek (Erie, PA/Erie Cathedral Prep) contributed 15 points and had four assists. Aaron Laing (Laurens, NY/Laurens) came off the bench and chipped in 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while grabbing four rebounds and blocking one shot.
Tyshun Stephens led the Golden Flyers with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Brad Ford contributed 12 points and secured seven rebounds.
"Chris joined Mark in scoring his 1,000th point tonight," said head coach Todd McGuinness. "He's really developed his game and I'm really proud for him and for his achievement."
Only once prior in 'Wick history have teammates from the same class reached 1,000 points. Tim McGraw, Mark Ottati, and Tom Hendricks each have achieved that feat. All three are members of the Class of 1988.
The Hawks came out shooting to begin the game as Blazek and Andres Carpio (Beacon, NY/Lock Haven University) nailed back-to-back three-pointers to put Hartwick up 9-5 just over three minutes into the game. Nazareth would take a brief lead following a layup from Stephens just under the 15-minute mark, but layups by Ryder and Suderley would put 'Wick back on top.
The Hawks would push the lead to nine points, 23-14, following a three from Suderley at 11:20. Both teams would trade shots as neither could pull away. Nazareth closed the deficit to five as Phil Scaffidi's three-pointer with time expiring would make the score 41-36 Hawks at halftime.
In the second half, the Golden Flyers would stay in the game as they would keep Hartwick at bay and not let them run away with the lead. It was a six-point Hawks' lead following a Ford jumper that would make it 62-56 with 10:30 left to play. From there on, Hartwick would go on a big 18-4 run covering six minutes to go up by 20 points, 80-60, at 4:07 and essentially run away with the game.
The Golden Flyers missed eight shots during that stretch including six three-pointers. Ryder's 1,000 point basket at the 58-second mark gave the Hawks their biggest lead of the game at 87-65.
"It was a very good team effort," remarked McGuinness. "Our bench stepped in and played well. Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area), Laing, and Mike Geisser (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) were great off the bench. We did a great job of moving the ball and got a lot of easy buckets."
Hartwick shot a season-high 59.3% from the field (35-of-59) and made 45.5 % of its three-point shots (5-of-11). Nazareth shot only 34.3% in field goals (24-of-70) and 33.3% in three-point attempts (9-of-27).
The Hawks led in rebounds 45-31. The team dominated in the paint as it had a 42-12 advantage over Nazareth.