Hawks Outlast Soaring Eagles in Empire 8 Opener
ELMIRA, NY- Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) scored 25 points and two other players scored in double figures as the men's basketball team continued its winning ways with a 71-60 victory over Elmira on Friday night at Speidel Gymnasium in both teams' conference opener. Hartwick, now 12-0, ties the team record for the best start to a season which was last achieved in 1987-88. The Soaring Eagles are still searching for their first win as they now fall to 0-11.
Ryder shot 6-of-10 from the field and sank 12-of-13 free throws. He grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots. Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) had a career-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting and had four rebounds to go along with three assists. Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) contributed 14 points while shooting 5-of-7.
Chris Cassidy led Elmira with 16 points. Josh Keys chipped in 12 points.
Hartwick started the game with a lead but the host Soaring Eagles would come back to go ahead and led by four points, 27-23 with 3:52 remaining in the first half. The Hawks would score 10 straight points to go on top again before two straight Elmira baskets would make it a two-point game, 33-31, at halftime.
The Soaring Eagles kept it close in the early part of the second half with the score tied at 35 at 18:21. Keane's layup and conversion of a free throw completed a three-point play to give the Hawks a three-point lead and boosted them the rest of the game as they never trailed again.
"Anthony did a good job in the first half attacking the basket. Chris has a good second half and made plays to pull us away," remarked head coach Todd McGuinness. "Elmira is a well-coached and physical team and they stayed around but we managed to pull it out at the end."
The Hawks shot 55.3% from the floor despite only make 25% of their three-point attempts. The Soaring Eagles shot 36.5% from the floor and made 35% of their three-point attempts. Both teams were even in rebounds with 25. Hartwick did most of its damage in the paint as the Hawks outscored Elmira 26-12 in that category.