Alfred 100, Stevens 88 (
Box Score)
The Alfred University men's basketball team bolstered its position in the Empire 8 Conference standings with an emphatic 100-88 victory over Stevens Institute of Technology Friday evening at the McLane Center.
AU freshman guard
Tyler Seelman and senior forward
Thomas Tsatsis combined for 38 points as the Saxons defeated the Ducks for the first time ever. Stevens had beaten AU 13 straight times dating back to the 2007-08 season, when the Ducks joined the Empire 8.
The Saxons never trailed against Stevens, holding a 54-47 halftime lead, overcoming poor foul shooting (27 percent) with 49 percent shooting from the floor, including a blistering 47 percent (nine of 19) from behind the three-point line.
AU led by as many as eight after intermission before the visitors knotted the contest at 74-74 with seven minutes left. AU went on a 26-14 run to close out the game that including 16 foul shots in 20 attempts down the stretch.
Tsatsis was 10-of-12 from the foul line as AU shot 71 percent from the charity stripe after intermission and 60 percent (25 of 42) for the game. He added seven rebounds, seven assists and game-high seven steals. Seelman made three shots from long range and eight of 14 overall. For the game, AU shot 40 from the floor (31 percent on three-pointers, while holding the visitors to 17 percent shooting four of 23) from behind the arc.
Elmira 81, Hartwick 75 (
Box Score)
Some clutch free throw shooting from the Elmira College men's basketball team in the final two minutes of play helped the Soaring Eagles pick up their fourth win in a row, defeating Hartwick College, 81-75. The win gets EC right back into the thick of things in the Empire 8 Conference as they have a 4-5 record with five conference games remaining.
Josh Keys '14 hit another milestone today, becoming EC's all-time leader in career three-pointers made. The senior from Bel Air, Maryland knocked down his 250th career three with 8:02 to play in the second half, breaking a 13-year old record previously held by Ryan Bennett '01.
Hartwick senior forward
Jared Suderley also hit a milestone as he became the all-time leading scorer in Hartwick men's basketball history when he scored on a jumper inside the paint with 1:18 left in the first half. With that basket, he moved past Tim McGraw to become the program's all-time leading scorer. McGraw's record of 1,878 points had stood for 26 years.
The Soaring Eagles once again started strong from the opening tip, jumping out to a 5-0 lead, but Hartwick would respond. The Hawks began feeding the ball inside to Suderley, who scored four of Hartwick's next six points, giving the Hawks a one-point lead. That would be all the offense Suderley would produce for over 15 minutes of game-time as EC frustrated him with strong defense throughout the opening half.
The first half was clearly a game of runs as each team strung together mini spurts of five to six points at a time, never letting the momentum of the game swing too much either way. EC took a 19-14 lead after a pair of Cassidy free throws, but their lead quickly evaporated and turned into a deficit once the Hawks got hot from three-point range. Glenn Gavan hit two from downtown and Joey Lufkin added another as Hartwick took a five-point lead, the largest lead of the game for the Hawks.
Despite Hartwick entering the night tied at the top of the conference standings, Elmira was up for the challenge, countering every Hawks' run with a run of their own. The Soaring Eagles closed the final 2:51 of the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 36-32 lead into the locker rooms. Cassidy had six of those 11 points, the final two coming in the form of an 18-foot jumper from the top of the key with three seconds left on the clock. The senior from Colts Neck, NJ led all scorers with 12 points at the half.
EC scored 10 of the first 14 points of the second half to bring their lead to double figures. The Soaring Eagle advantage would hover around the 10-point mark for much of the second half, reaching a pinnacle of 15 following a Keys three-pointer with 8:02 to play. With that three-pointer, Keys' third of the night, the senior had 250 made threes in his career, giving him the most career three-pointers made in Elmira College history.
Hartwick did make it interesting down the stretch, cutting a nine-point deficit with 1:31 to play to just two with 36 seconds left in regulation. But the trio of Cassidy, Keys, and Randolph went a combined 9-for-9 from the charity stripe during that time to seal the 81-75 victory.
Nazareth 76, Ithaca 64 (
Box Score)
Nazareth finished the last seven minutes of Friday night's Empire 8 men's basketball game with a 19-7 scoring run to lift the visiting Golden Flyers over Ithaca 76-64. Sophomore
Maurice Mills tallied 18 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in Nazareth's victory.
Nazareth led 38-32 after halftime but Ithaca scored the first seven points out of the break to take its first lead of the game 1:19 into the second period. Following Ithaca's 7-0 run, there were eight lead changes and seven tied scores as the teams traded scores. The Golden Flyers took the lead for good following a three-point play by Mills, which gave Nazareth a 60-57 edge. After a Bombers' basket,
Brad Ford connected on a pair of free throws and freshman
Josh Gillard made a three-pointer to put Nazareth up 65-59 with roughly six minutes to play. The closest Ithaca came was three points, 67-64, before Mills and Hayford each scored on layups to give the Golden Flyers control of the game. The Golden Flyers held the Bombers scoreless for the last two and a half minutes and to only one field goal in the final 6:30 to secure the victory.
St. John Fisher 89, Houghton 59 (
Box Score)
The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team picked up its 13
th win of the year as the Cardinals cruised to an 89-59 win over Houghton College on Friday night.
Fisher took control from the opening tip. The Cardinals jumped out to a 16-3 lead just five minutes into the game and led 44-25 at the half. Fisher shot 63.0% (17-for-27) from the floor over the opening period and had eight different players score in the first half.
Houghton trimmed Fisher's lead down to 12 at 51-39 with 12:36 left in the game, but Fisher pulled away, responding with a 13-0 run over the next two minutes.
Standings as of Feb. 7, 2014
|
SCHOOL |
CONF |
OVERALL |
|
Stevens |
8-3 |
14-7 |
|
Hartwick |
8-3 |
13-8 |
|
Nazareth |
7-3 |
14-6 |
|
Alfred |
6-3 |
15-5 |
|
St. John Fisher |
6-5 |
13-9 |
|
Elmira |
4-5 |
9-11 |
|
Ithaca |
1-9 |
6-15 |
|
Utica |
1-10 |
6-14 |
|
Houghton |
0-0 |
3-17 |
|
Houghton is an NCAA provisional member and is not eligible for postseason. Games against the Highlanders will not impact conference records/standings.
|