Hawks Take Down Cardinals
ONEONTA, NY- The Hartwick men's basketball team led from start to finish and never trailed in the game as they defeated visiting St. John Fisher 76-58 on Friday night at Lambros Arena. Hartwick moves its record to 14-2 overall and 3-2 in the Empire 8. The Cardinals fall to 9-8 overall and 2-3 in the Empire 8.
Mark Blazek (Erie, PA/Erie Cathedral Prep) led the Hawks and all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting and made 6-of-7 three-pointers. Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) chipped in 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Thad Wier scored 14 points to lead St. John Fisher. Jordan Gettings contributed 12 points.
Hartwick raced out to the early lead and led by 20 points at halftime. Blazek was on fire as he made all six of his three-point attempts and had 22 points. The Cardinals would narrow the deficit to five points with 9:16 left in the half but a huge 19-6 Hartwick run, with Blazek scoring 11 of his points during the stretch, put the Hawks up 45-25 at halftime.
The second half was no different as Hartwick pushed its lead to 49-27 just over two minutes into the half. St. John Fisher would use a 16-4 run to knock the 'Wick lead down to 10 points, 53-43, at 13:02. The Cardinals would eventually trim the deficit to eight points after a Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area) foul on Wier put him at the foul line and he made all three of his attempts with 9:29 remaining. The Cardinals would only make one more field goal the rest of the game as the stingy Hartwick defense would force 11 missed shots.
Hartwick dominated in nearly every statistical category. They out-rebounded the Cardinals 41-33. They outshot them 47.5% to 33.3 % from the field and made 41.7% of their three-pointers to St. John Fisher's 30%. The Hawks led in the paint 20-12 and in second chance points 15-5. Hartwick's 17 assists tied a program record which had been achieved four times previously.
"It was a good win for us," said head coach Todd McGuinness. "Mark had a great first half and when he gets going, he can really make shots. Jared did a good job scoring around the basket and Chris did a good job of rebounding. When our team is making shots like we did tonight, we are really tough to guard."