Box Score

ONEONTA, NY- The visiting Utica men's basketball team used an early 18-3 second half run to surge ahead as Hartwick's valiant comeback fell short and the Pioneers came away with a 75-72 win over 'Wick on Tuesday night at Lambros Arena. Hartwick falls to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the Empire 8 while Utica evens its record at 3-3 and is 1-0 in the Empire 8.

Hartwick was led by Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) who scored 18 points and added six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Kyle Bradley (Cornwall, NY/Mansfield University) had 15 points with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) added 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block.

The Pioneers were led by Connor Maisch and his 25 points. Maisch also grabbed eight rebounds. Aaron Nevins scored 16 points and dished out six assists. Matt Baldwin contributed 13 points, and Chris Jeffers had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Hartwick jumped out to an early 9-3 lead with 15:29 on the clock in the first half. Six straight Pioneer points, bookended by layups by Jeff Ward, evened the contest at nine-all at 11:39. The Hawks would answer back with a 10-4 run highlighted by two Ryan Gill (Seaville, NJ/Ocean City) three-pointer to go ahead 20-13 at the 8:31 mark.

The Hawks eventually push their lead to 30-20 with 3:48 left in the half. The Pioneers would storm back with a 10-3 run to close out the first half as Baldwin's layup with three seconds left brought Utica to within two points, 33-31 at halftime.

In the second half, Maisch's three-point field goal seven seconds into the period tied the game at 33-all and just 31 seconds later, another three-point shot from Maisch, gave the Pioneers their first lead, 36-33, since 17:17 of the first half. Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area) would answer back for 'Wick with a three-pointer of his own to tie the game at 34.

At that point, the Pioneers went on their big 18-3 run to move ahead 54-39 with 13:49 on the clock. A quick 14-7 Hawk run closed the deficit to six points, 61-55, with just under six and a half minutes left in the game.

Hartwick would keep the game close and not let the Pioneers run away with it. Following a three-point shot from Mike Geisser (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) at 1:19, the Hawks trailed 69-64. After Maisch converted two free throws, Bradley scored the go-ahead layup with 45 ticks on the clock to again close the deficit to 71-66. The Pioneers then converted three of four foul shots and another Bradley layup made it 74-68 UC with 24 seconds left. Keane's layup cut it to 74-70 and after Maisch hit one of two free throws, Keane would score on a layup with seven seconds remaining but it was not enough as Utica held on for the victory.

The Pioneers shot 25-of-56 (46.4%) from the field compared to the Hawks' 25-of-67 (37.3%). Utica also had the slight edge in three-point shooting, 7-of-19 (6.8%) to 8 -of-24 (33.3%). UC led in rebounds 45-34 and had a 10 board advantage on the defensive glass, 45-34. Hartwick did control in the paint, 32-26 and outscored the UC bench, 17-11.

The Hawks head on the road Thursday night in non-conference action as they take on Elms College. Game time will be at 6 p.m.