Hawks Escape with a Victory over Fisher; Hartwick Clinches Share of Empire 8 Regular Season Title
ROCHESTER, NY- St. John Fisher's Adam Ambielli's three-point attempt with time expiring went too long and the Hartwick men's basketball came away with a 64-62 victory at the Manning Napier Gymnasium on Saturday evening. The win gives Hartwick a record of 22-2 overall and 11-2 in the Empire 8. The Hawks also earn a share of the Empire 8 regular season title. The 11 conference wins are the team's most since the Empire 8 was formed. St. John Fisher falls to 10-14 and 3-10 in the Empire 8.
Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) led Hartwick with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He also had five rebounds and three assists. Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) had his eighth double-double of the season as he scored 12 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Mike Geisser (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) chipped in 11 points and secured five rebounds.
"We played well and Jared had a great game," said head coach Todd McGuinness. "It's another great road win for us. I'm proud of how our team has played."
Jordan Gettings led the Cardinals with 25 points and had nine rebounds. Justin Plata contributed 11 points and six rebounds.
The Hawks started the game off with a lead but it quickly evaporated as a 10-3 Cardinal run would put St. John Fisher on top 15-10 at 9:46. Hartwick would fight back and Geisser's three-pointer tied the game at 17-all with 6:31 left until the half. Hartwick would eventually take the lead a minute later on Suderley's layup.
The Hawk lead would increase to four on a trey from Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area), but St. John Fisher would go on top on Gettings' three-pointer with just under four minutes left. Gettings again would hit another three after Hartwick regained the lead to put the Cardinals ahead and after Aaron Laing (Laurens, NY/Laurens) tied it up for 'Wick, Gettings' first of two free throws with 29 seconds left in the first would give St. John Fisher the 27-26 halftime lead.
The first 4:55 of the second half would feature four lead changes and one tie. Suderley's second of two free throws would give the Hawks a 38-37 lead at 15:05. Hartwick would hold the lead for nearly six minutes before the Cardinals would tie it. After Ryder's jumper put the Hawks ahead 50-48 with 7:11 left on the clock, back-to-back threes from Ambielli and Plata put the Cardinals on top 54-50 with five and a half minutes left in the game.
As they have many times this season, the Hawks came back and proceeded to go on a 12-3 run capped off by a Ryder three-pointer with just over two minutes left to play and Hartwick went ahead 62-57. St. John Fisher would cut the lead down to two with 17 seconds left.
Following two timeouts, Anthony Keane's (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) turnover gave the Cardinals possession and the chance to either tie or win the game. Ambielli took aim with a three with four seconds remaining, but the ball would hit the back of the iron and out and Suderley would secure the rebound to end the game.
The Hawks shot 49% from the floor in the game compared to 41.4% for the Cardinals. Hartwick converted 27.3 % of its three-pointers and St. John Fisher made just 26.3% of its three-point shots. 'Wick led in rebounds 35-33 and in points in the paint, 22-20.
Hartwick, which is now alone in first place in the league following Stevens' loss to Nazareth today, returns home for its final home regular season game next Saturday at 4 p.m. against the second-place Ducks. A Hawks' win would give them the outright Empire 8 regular season crown and the #1 seed in the Empire 8 Tournament.