Stevens Closes Season with Upset of #16 St. John Fisher
STEVENS 60, St. John Fisher 54
HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 19, 2015) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team closed the regular season with a big-time upset of No. 16 St. John Fisher College, downing the Cardinals by a final of 60-54 in front of a #RedOUT crowd in the Canavan Arena.
Prior to the game, Stevens honored senior forwards
Kenny Gan and
Patrick Sabatino playing the final home game of their respective careers. Both players were strong for the Ducks as Gan finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four steals, while Sabatino tallied 10 points, eight boards, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
The Ducks were led throughout by freshman guard
Chris Cosgrove who finished with 20 points, seven assists, three rebounds and a steal. The Duck rookie, who came on strong at the end of the year, recorded four or more assists in 12 of his last 13 games and tallied 24 helpers in his last three.
Stevens shot 48.1 percent from the floor and went 4-for-14 from three. The Ducks had 17 assists on 25 made baskets and accumulated 11 steals in the game. In addition to Cosgrove, Gan and Sabatino, freshman guard
Jayson Winick finished with seven points and six rebounds in his first career start. Junior forward
Alex Lorenz had seven points and five rebounds to pace the Duck reserves.
The Ducks were able to take a 29-26 lead into the intermission after opening a seven-point edge several times late in the half. Up one at 20-19 with 6:43 on the clock, a layup from Gan, a jumper from Sabatino and a three-pointer from Lorenz accounted for a 7-1 run to give the Ducks a 27-20 lead with 2:28 to go. The two teams traded baskets before the Cardinals closed the period on a 4-0 spurt.
A Winick layup with 14:37 remaining helped Stevens to an eight-point lead, and after the Cardinals trimmed the lead to one (41-40), a Cosgrove jumper gave Stevens some breathing room.
Fisher tied the game at 43 with a triple from junior guard Tyler Hart, but the Ducks responded, getting four points from its two senior forwards to go back on top by four. A pair at the line from Cosgrove with 3:58 on the clock lifted the Ducks to their largest lead of the night, and Fisher could get no closer than four the rest of the way.
Stevens played excellent defense in the second half, holding the nationally-ranked Cardinals to just seven field goals. Fisher ended up shooting 35.4 percent for the game and hit just 5-of-22 attempts from three. The Ducks' defense also caused 21 turnovers.
Stevens finishes the 2014-15 regular season with a record of 12-13, 8-8 in the Empire 8. Fisher falls to 21-4 and 14-2 in the conference, but will host the E8 tournament next weekend.
HARTWICK 100, Nazareth 88
ONEONTA, NY – Sophomore
Justin Pratt (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingtown) tied a 23-old Hartwick record for three-pointers in a game and poured in a career-high 35 points to lift Hartwick to a 100-88 victory in the Hawks' regular season finale over Nazareth on Saturday at Lambros Arena.
Pratt knocked down nine three's, including seven in the second half, to tie Greg Bonczkowski's record set in 1992. He made 9-of-12 (75%) from three-point range and made 12 of his 15 shots from the floor (75%). He also tied for a game-high with six rebounds.
With the win, the Hawks close with a mark of 15-10 overall and 10-6 in the Empire 8. Hartwick is the #3 seed in next weekend's Empire 8 Tournament and plays #2 Alfred Friday at St. John Fisher's home court at 8 p.m.
Trevor Norton (Mullica Hill, NJ/Ursinus College) contributed 25 points on the night for the Hawks as he and Pratt combined for 60 of the Hawks' 100 points.
Matt Wilson (Shelton, CT/Franklin & Marshall College) added 13 points and three blocks.
Joey Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) scored 12 points and dished out six assists.
Jake Sinicki (Endicott, NY/Maine-Endwell) chipped in with 11 points and five boards.
The Hawks held a slim 19-17 lead with 12:34 to play in the first half but opened it up with a 21-12 run which brought the lead to double digits for good with less than six minutes left before halftime. 'Wick settled on a 52-42 advantage at the break. They shot a blistering 61% from the floor with six three's in the half.
The second-half Pratt three-point show started at the 15:57 mark. He would hit four of them in a 4:14 span to give Hartwick its biggest margin of the game, 78-55.
He hit another pair from beyond the arc in a 1:16 span and nailed his record-tying triple with 3:09 left to play. Thirteen points was as close as the Golden Flyers would get over the final 16 minutes in the Hartwick blowout.
The Hawks finished the night shooting 56.9% (33-for-58) from the floor. They hit 13 treys on 29 attempts (44.8%). 'Wick also shot 91% (21-for-23) from the free-throw line.
Nazareth had three players reach 20 points. Maurice Mills led the way with 24. Dan Morse added 22 points and Nick Nadeau netted 21.
The Hawks are set for their fourth Empire 8 playoff appearance in the last five years. They oppose an Alfred team that they defeated in both their meetings this season. 'Wick edged the Saxons at Lambros 75-74 on January 3 and won at the McLane Center for the first time in six tries on January 30 by a final score of 72-64.
ALFRED 67, Elmira 62
ELMIRA, NY—The Alfred University men's basketball team kept rolling Saturday afternoon in Elmira against the Soaring Eagles, winning their eighth consecutive game, 67-62.
In their regular season finale, the Saxons improved their record to 18-7 overall and 11-5 in the Empire 8 and solidified their position as the second seed in the Empire 8 tournament. With the loss the Elmira Soaring Eagles fall to 10-15 overall and 7-9 in the Empire 8.
The opening 10 minutes of the first half was a back-and-forth affair as neither team could grab a significant lead over their opponent. Finally, the Saxons mounted a 12-0 run over the course of just shy of seven minutes to grab a six-point lead set off by an
Eric Adams(Lebanon, NJ/Hunterdon Central) layup.
The rest of the half, the Saxons looked to maintain a lead and carry it into the intermission, but the Soaring Eagles would not shy away from a challenge. With 1:14 to go in the half, Elmira's Neil Randolph hit a shot from behind the arc to give the Soaring Eagles their first lead in over ten minutes. Elmira would carry the two-point advantage into the half time break.
Sophomore
Tyler Seelman (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary) led the Saxons in the opening 20 minutes of the game with eight points, with the majority of his points coming from behind the arc. Senior
Dalton Walsh (Stockton, NY/Cassadega Valley) chimed in with seven points in the first half.
AU came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders for the second half and quickly erased the small deficit when senior guard
Tim Pacheco (Mt. Pocono, PA/Pocono Mountain East)scrambled into the paint for a layup. The Saxons grabbed the lead when Walsh ripped down a board and sent a long ball to Seelman who put in the fast break bucket. The Soaring Eagles would answer with a basket on the other end of the court, but AU would quickly grab the lead again and would not look back the rest of the game. AU jumped out to their largest lead of the game with 8:03 to go and would carry the momentum to the finish line.
Seelman would end the afternoon with a game-high 24 points for the Saxons. Adams was the only other AU player in double-digits with 11 points and 10 rebounds—Adams' third double-double of the season. Walsh ended with eight points and nine rebounds while Pacheco moved the ball around for the Saxons with five assists and six points.
Alfred University looks to stay hot going into the Empire 8 Championship tournament next Fri. February 27th when they look to take on the 3rd seeded Hartwick Hawks. The Hawks swept AU in during the regular season by the scores of, 75-74 (at Hartwick) and 72-64 (at Alfred).