ROCHESTER, NY - Freshman Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) registered game highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Hartwick's men's basketball team to a 59-54 victory over Nazareth (7-4, 0-2 E8) on Friday night at Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester. The Hawks avenge two losses by a combined 35 points to the defending Empire 8 champion Golden Flyers last season.
Hartwick (6-4, 1-0 E8), which trailed Naz by as many as nine points at one point in the first half of play, grabbed a two-point edge on a Suderley layup with 15:54 left in the game and never trailed again. The Hawks held a 41-33 edge with 12 minutes to go for its biggest lead of the night before Naz fought back to close the gap.
The Golden Flyers kept it close over the final seven minutes and got as close as one, 51-50, with 2:07 remaining following a Phil Scaffidi three-point play. Suderley answered at the other end for Hartwick and the Hawks got a stop on defense allowing Mark Blazek (Erie, PA/Erie Prep) to widen the margin to five, 55-50, from the free-throw line.
The Golden Flyers converted a jumper and after a missed Hartwick shot, they had a chance to tie the score with one minute left. Naz's three-point effort missed the mark, however, and Blazek would connect on three of four free throws over the next 30 seconds to put the game away.
Hartwick only made 42% of its shots from the field as a team, but the Hawks hit 19-of-23 from the free-throw line in the game. Naz, which made just 31% from the field, went to the line just nine times, making only five attempts.
Naz opened up a 28-19 lead with less than two minutes to go in the first half of play and it appeared the Flyers would run away with a victory. But Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) hit a jumper and Martin McCann (Hopewell Junction, NY/Lourdes) netted a three-pointer just before the horn to cut the deficit to four, 28-24, at the break.
Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) added 12 points for the Hawks in the victory. 'Wick also got 10 points and nine boards from Ryder and Blazek finished the night with 10 points.
Naz was paced by Scaffidi, who netted 13 points. Jason Corletta and Dominque Kendrick each scored 10 points and Dan Waldbillig contributed eight points and a team-best nine rebounds.
The Hawks look to for a 2-0 start to the conference season tomorrow in a game against RIT. The Tigers improved to 2-0 in the E8 with a 73-70 win against Stevens tonight.
