ONEONTA, NY - Sophomore Mark Blazek (Erie, PA/Erie Cathedral Prep) drilled a three-pointer with under two minutes to play to give Hartwick College's men's basketball team the lead for good in a 52-47 victory on Friday night at Lambros Arena. 'Wick, which led for much of the second half, battled back from a four-point deficit outscoring EC 11-2 in the final five minutes to emerge with the victory. The Hawks improve to 8-10 overall and even their record in conference play at 5-5. The Soaring Eagles slip to 3-15 and 1-8.
Blazek finished the contest with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Center Kyle Phillips (Ashland, MA/Ashland) added 12 points for the Hawks, who now have won three straight contests over the Purple and Gold.
Elmira's Zach Simpson recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. Bobby DiPiazza contributed 14 points and eight rebounds.
Both teams played through a tight first half with neither squad able to build more than a six-point lead in the first 20 minutes. The Hawks took the biggest lead of the night with just over three minutes to play in the opening frame as Travis Nally (Malden, MA/Malden) knocked down a three-pointer to give his side a 20-14 edge. A 7-2 run to close the half for EC, however, would cut the advantage to just a point, 22-21, at intermission.
In the second half, Hartwick led for 10 of the first 11 minutes of action. A layup from Jon Adamson, however, gave the Soaring Eagles a one-point lead (36-35) at the midway point and the visitors held onto the advantage for the next eight minutes.
Trailing 45-41, Blazek hit a basket cutting the deficit to two points with 5:13 to go and the game went scoreless for the next three and a half minutes. Finally Blazek's triple with 1:54 showing on the clock regained the lead for the Blue and White, and following an Adamson miss, Shane Tanzosh (Warwick, NY/Warwick) gave his team some breathing room with a pair from the free-throw line.
After another EC missed field goal, Blazek sank another two foul shots for a five-point lead (50-45). DiPiazza then converted a layup for the Soaring Eagles' final points of the night with 24 ticks left, but Phillips would put the game out of reach with another two from the line making it a two-possession game with 16 seconds remaining sealing the win.
Both defenses held their opponents to under 33% shooting for the night. The Hawks connected on 18-of-55 (32.7%) from the floor while the Soaring Eagles managed just 15-for-56 (26.8%) on the night. 'Wick made only 3-of-13 shots from behind the three-point arc in the game with EC making only three of its 20 attempts in the game.
Hartwick looks for a season sweep over Alfred on Sunday afternoon. The Hawks defeated the Saxons 78-61 back on Jan. 8th.
