Hartwick Defeats Wells; Stevens Upended by Kean
Hartwick 70, Wells 59
Kyle Bradley converted the traditional three-point play as the men's basketball team went up by 10 points with 48 seconds remaining to pull away and defeat Wells College 70-59 on Thursday night at the Farenthold Athletic Wing. The win improves the Hawks' record to 2-1 while the Express drop to 0-3.
Hartwick clung to a 65-58 lead with just over three minutes to play in the contest. That lead would hold for the next 2:15 of game time. Bradley went up for a layup and was fouled by Wells' Al Paul and with the free throw, Hartwick went up 68-58 and held the Express without a basket the rest of the way to come away with the win.
Jared Suderley led the Hawks with 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 23 minutes of game time.
Joey Lufkin also shot 7-of-11 from the field and scored 19 points and had four rebounds while dishing out two assists. Bradley contributed 12 points while shooting 4-of-8. He added seven rebounds, three steals, and three assists.
The Hawks started the game up 6-0 in the opening minutes of the first half. The Express scored six straight points to tie the game up at 15:40.
An 11-4 Hartwick run put the Hawks ahead 17-10 at 11:02. An 8-2 Express run, however, put the home team to within one point of tying the game, 19-18, with just over eight minutes left in the half. The Hawks would still maintain a lead for the rest of the frame and after leading by eight points three times in the last 1:26 of the period, Wells would close the gap in half and 'Wick went into halftime with a 30-26 lead.
In the second half, Wells would again narrow the deficit to one point, 32-31, at 17:57 following a jumper by Shakeel Simmons. Hartwick would answer back as Lufkin nailed a three-pointer to put the Hawks up by four.
The host Express would not let Hartwick run away with the game as it again got to within one points of knotting the game up after another layup by Simmons reduced the 'Wick lead to 47-46 at 11:28. A layup by Keane would increase the Hawks' advantage to three points and start an 11-2 'Wick run that put it ahead 58-48 with 7:34 remaining in the game.
Wells would reduce the deficit to five points at 6:39 but a 7-2 Hawks run would restore the 10-point Hartwick lead, 65-55, with 3:23 remaining in the game. Paul would convert a layup and a free throw to get the Express to within seven points, 65-58, with 3:03 showing on the game clock. It would be the last field goal for Wells for the rest of the game as the Hartwick defense forced five missed shots.
After Bradley's layup and subsequent free throw moved Hartwick ahead by 10 points, Lufkin tacked on two free throws with 19 seconds remaining to increase the Hawk lead to 12 points. Simmons added a free throw with seven ticks left with the game already favoring Hartwick.
The Hartwick defense held Wells to just 36.5% shooting from the floor (23-of-63) and only 17.6% (3-of-17) from beyond the three-point arc. The Hawks shot 52.3% (23-of-44) in field goals and converted 44.4 % (4-of-9) of its three-point attempts. The Express ended the game outrebounding the Hawks 38-30.
Kean 70, Stevens 68
Kean University overcame a 21-point deficit with 6:01 left in the game to earn a 70-68 win over the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team Thursday night at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J.
Trailing 63-42 after two made free throws by sophomore guard
Evan Klimchak, the Cougars outscored Stevens 28-5 over the final six-plus minutes to earn the win. Kean was led by senior guard Ali Mix, senior guard Mike Burton and sophomore guard Tommy Soulias in the comeback in which an intense press forced Stevens (1-2) into turnovers and challenging shots.
Leading by seven after one half, the Ducks pushed the lead to double-digits after a made jumper by junior forward
Patrick Sabatino and with 14:36 left in the period, the Ducks went on a 10-1 run keyed by three-pointers from senior guard
Andrew Meszaros and sophomore forward
Alex Lorenz to open a 54-37 margin11:18 in the game.
The lead would move to 21 before Kean made its run to win the game, taking the lead for the first time since 17:37 remained in the first half when Burton swished a three-pointer with just 13 seconds on the clock.
In the final possession, Stevens was unable to get a clean look at the hoop.
In the first half, the Ducks were led by senior guard
Phillip DeSeignora who poured in 13 points on the back of three three-pointers. DeSeignora finished the game with a career-high 16 points on just 10 shots in what was an excellent performance for the veteran.
Stevens shot 25-for-47 from the field (53.2 percent) and 7-for-17 from three. The Ducks were 11-for-17 at the line and held a 35-28 margin on the glass. Stevens assisted on 17 of its 25 made baskets but committed 21 turnovers.
Sabatino had 11 points, five rebounds and three blocks, while junior forward
Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) tallied nine points, 10 rebounds and two assists. Senior guard
Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) had seven points, six rebounds and six assists, while Lorenz gave Stevens big-time minutes off the bench with nine points, four rebounds and three blocked shots.
Burton finished with 20 points to lead Kean, while Mix added 17 and Soulias had 14. The Cougars shot 27-for-61 from the field (44.3 percent), 8-for-22 from three and 8-for-14 at the line. They had 14 steals, 13 turnovers and 10 assists.
Kean (2-1) had a 29-12 margin in points off turnovers and a 15-6 edge in second-chance points. Stevens' bench finished with 25 tallies thanks to DeSeignora and Lorenz.