Hartwick, Stevens Earn Wins in Men's Basketball on Tuesday
HARTWICK 83, Utica 64
UTICA, NY – Hartwick shot just under 55% from the floor in each half as it defeated host Utica College 83-64 on Tuesday night at Clark Athletic Center. The Hawks now have won for the fifth straight time and improve to 13-8 overall and 8-4 in the Empire 8. They also pull into a second-place tie with Ithaca in the standings with four games to play.
Jake Sinicki (Endicott, NY/Maine-Endwell) led Hartwick with 21 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He missed only two shots on the night, making 9-of-11 from the floor and both of his free throw attempts.
Trevor Norton (Mullica Hill, NJ/Ursinus College) added 19 points, four assists, three steals, and three shots from beyond the three-point arc. He also made all six of his shots from the foul line.
Matt Wilson (Shelton, CT/Franklin & Marshall College) went a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor to finish with 17 points and seven boards.
Joey Lufkin(Argyle, NY/Argyle) contributed 10 points and dished out a game-high seven assists.
After a 9-9 tie through nearly four minutes of action in the first half of play, a Sinicki jumper would give Hartwick the lead which it held for the rest of the night. It was part of a 12-0 Hartwick run which gave it a 19-9 lead with 14:01 left in the half.
The advantage increased to 11 points, 26-15, after a
Corey Baker (Granby, MA/Granby) three-pointer with 6:59 left on the clock and then to 14 points, 38-24, on a Lufkin jumper with 1:07 left before 'Wick settled on a 38-27 lead at the half.
The Hartwick advantage grew to 17 three minutes into the second half but the Pioneers slowly chipped away at their deficit. They cut it to four points twice near the midway point of the half. The second came on a Connor Maisch three-pointer which made the score 64-60 with 8:23 left on the game clock.
'Wick responded with a 10-0 run over the next 3:19 to go up 74-60 to pull away. Wilson netted four points in the run with Lufkin and Sinicki each adding three. The Hawks wouldn't lead by less than 10 points over the final four minutes in the victory.
Hartwick shot 54.7% (29-for-53) as a team. The Hawks out-rebounded the Pioneers 37-27 in the contest. UC shot 44.1% (26-for-59) as a group. The Pioneers were led by Maisch's game-highs of 30 points and five three-pointers. Aaron Nevins scored 14 points and Robert Tutein contributed 10.
Joe Krong (Amsterdam, NY/Franklin & Marshall College) added six points and eight rebounds for 'Wick. Baker finished with five in six minutes.
STEVENS 78, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy 59
HOBOKEN, N.J. – Behind six three-pointers from sophomore guard
Patrick Barron and a strong defensive performance in the first half, the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team earned its 10th win of the season, defeating the United States Merchant Marine Academy, 78-59, Tuesday night in the Canavan Arena.
With the win, Stevens moves to 10-11 overall. Merchant Marine drops to 6-15 in defeat.
Despite shooting just 25 percent over the first 12-plus minutes of action, the Ducks were able to build a 22-7 lead with 8:13 remaining in the opening period after a put-back from senior forward
Kenny Gan. The Ducks, who dominated the glass early, doubled up the Mariners at 10-5 with a second-chance bucket from sophomore forward
Otis Osman, and built their first double-digit margin of the night 8:34 into the action following two at the line from senior forward
Patrick Sabatino.
A quick 4-0 run from the Mariners trimmed the Stevens lead to 11, but two at the line from Osman and a three-pointer from Barron resulted in a 31-15 lead with less than five minutes to go in the first. Freshman forward
Thomas Cook found freshman guard
Chris Cosgrove slicing to the hoop for two to give the Ducks their largest lead of the half (18), forcing Merchant Marine's fourth timeout of the half.
Another second-chance bucket, this one a three-pointer from Barron resulted in a 19-point lead with 1:22 on the clock with the Ducks settling on a 42-25 margin heading into the break. Sabatino led the way with 12 points and seven rebounds, with Barron and Osman pouring in nine points apiece.
A drive along the left baseline from Barron put the Ducks up 21 for the first time with 18:10 in the second, and three Barron three-pointers later gave him six for the game (6-for-8) and lifted the Ducks to a 25-point margin at 64-39.
Stevens' lead swelled to as many as 29 (74-45), but the Mariners closed strong to get within 19 at the final horn.
The Ducks' defense held the guests to 33.8 percent shooting (22-for-65), including 20 percent (4-for-20) from long range. Stevens was plus-10 on the glass (44-34), and never trailed in the game, holding the lead for the final 38:40.
Barron finished with 20 points on 6-for-8 from deep, with Sabatino getting 16 points and eight rebounds. Osman had 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists, with junior forward
Alex Lorenz scoring seven points off the bench to go along with three rebounds. Sophomore guard
Michael Langford had five points and four assists, and freshman guard
Chris Cosgrove added a team-high five assists, four rebounds and two points to his line. Senior forward
Kenny Gan was also solid for the Ducks, scoring five points, grabbing three boards and tallying a pair of assists and thefts.
Stevens will return to conference play this weekend, visiting Ithaca College and Elmira College on Friday and Saturday. The Ducks are currently 6-6 in the conference, looking to move into the top-four in the standings in order to earn a berth in the Empire 8 Championship slated for February 27 and 28 at the regular-season conference champ.
Tuesday's game against Merchant Marine featured former Stevens head coach
Steve Hayn coaching against his former assistant
Bobby Hurley – Stevens' current coach in his seventh season at the helm. Hayn brought Hurley to Stevens as an assistant coach in 2002-03 and this was the first meeting between the two as Hayn moved on to Division II Dowling College before being named the head coach at King's Point prior to the 2014-15 season. Coach Hurley is 123-63 since taking over the Stevens program for the 2008-09 season.