ONEONTA, NY- The visiting Alfred Saxons threw the ball away with seconds remaining as the men's basketball team held on for a 64-63 win on Friday night at Lambros Arena. Hartwick improves its record to 19-2 overall and 8-2 in the Empire 8. Alfred is 13-7 and 5-5 in the Empire 8. 'Wick is tied with Stevens for first place in the conference.
Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) scored 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) made some key baskets in the second half and finished with 16 points and four steals.
Aaron Laing (Laurens, NY/Laurens) scored seven points off the bench and secured six rebounds.
Josh Parker led Alfred with 17 points and had nine rebounds and three steals. Bret Dennis contributed 14 points and Pat Hollenbeck chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hawks got off to a 21-8 lead in the first half and looked to run away with the game. The Saxons would get back into the contest and go on an 8-3 run in the final 4:27 of the first half to narrow the deficit to just six points as the Hawks led 29-23 at halftime.
The second half featured eight lead changes and the score was tied nine times. Keane's opening layup of the second frame gave the Hawks an eight-point lead, but a 14-2 run by the Saxons would give them a 37-32 lead at 15:32. Over the next 11 minutes of the game, the score would be tied eight times with both teams trading leads. Keane's conversion of the traditional three-point play would tie the game a 57-all with 3:38 remaining to play. He then stole the ball from Alfred's Sean Curran and laid the ball in for a layup to give Hartwick a 59-57 lead.
Following a missed Alfred three-pointer, Keane again would score for Hawks and convert another three-point play after a Saxon foul to put Hartwick on top 62-57 with under two minutes left to play. Alfred would twice narrow the Hawks lead to just two points and eventually get to within one point of tying the game with 10 seconds remaining.
Chris Ryder (Port Washington, NY/Port Washington) would be fouled and had a chance to put Hartwick up by three but missed both of his free-throw attempts. The Saxons had a chance to go for the game-winner and after their first attempt to inbound the ball was quickly knocked out of bounds by the Hawks, their second attempt would result in a turnover and Hartwick escaped with the win.
Hartwick won despite struggling from the floor. The Hawks shot 38.7% compared to Alfred's 39.7%. The Saxons had the advantage in three-point shooting as they shot 35% to the Hawks' 19 %. Hartwick led in foul-shooting 70.6% to 62.5%.
'Wick had a slight advantage in rebounds, 40-39. In the paint, the team had a 36-26 advantage and led 12-3 in second-chance points.
"Jared and Anthony made big plays and helped us secure the game," said head coach Todd McGuinness. "Our young guys are doing a good job of stepping up and showing leadership and making crucial plays. Alfred is a well-coached and physical team and gave us all that we could have."
Hartwick will host Elmira tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.
