Box Score

ONEONTA, NY-  The Hartwick men's basketball team led from start to finish and did not leave the game in doubt as it defeated visiting Nazareth 73-51 on Saturday night at Lambros Arena. The Hawks improve their record to 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the Empire 8. The Golden Flyers fall to 11-6 overall and 4-3 in the Empire 8.

Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) had a big night for the Hawks as he netted a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Suderley shot 8-of-13 from the floor and was a perfect 6-of-6 from behind the three-point arc. Mike Geisser (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) contributed 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added four steals, three rebounds, and two assists. Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) chipped in 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.

Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area) scored eight points and dished out a game-high five assists. Kyle Bradley (Cornwall, NY/Mansfield University) added six points and six rebounds. Aaron Laing (Laurens, NY/Laurens) came off the bench to contribute seven points and picked up five rebounds.

Brad Ford led Nazareth with 12 points and grabbed five rebounds. Mitch Ford scored 10 points and had four rebounds. The Hartwick defense held second-leading scorer Tyshun Stephens, who came into tonight averaging 16.5 points per game, to just two points on 1-of-8 shooting.

“It was a fantastic performance tonight,” noted head coach Todd McGuinness. “Jared in the first half was great and he wanted to make sure we were not going to lose. Christian did a good job of controlling the tempo and finding shooters. It was a much needed victory and our guys played as hard as they could.”

The Hawks came out fast as they raced out to an early 7-0 lead. An 8-1 Golden Flyers run would knot the game at eight-all at 15:47.

From that point on, Hartwick went on a tear as it scored 16 straight points to surge ahead 24-8 with 11:43 left in the half. Nazareth would try to chip at the lead and got to within 11 points less than a minute later, but a 9-2 Hawk run would increase the advantage to 18 points with 6:29 showing on the clock. The Hawks would maintain that lead at halftime as they went up 40-22. In the first half, Hartwick shot 58% in three-point shots compared to just 17% for Nazareth.

A dunk by Ford started the second half and closed the deficit to 16 points for the Golden Flyers. Seven straight Hartwick points pushed the lead back up to 22. The Hawks led by as much as 30 points in the second half as the defense pressured Nazareth into off-balance shots.

Hartwick ended the game shooting 26-of-55 (47.3%) from the field and converted 12-of-27 (44.4%) of its three-point shots. Nazareth was 18-of-50 (36%) in field goals but only made six of its 26 attempted three-point shots. Both teams were exactly 9-of-12 (75%) from the charity stripe.

Hartwick dominated on the glass with a 40-23 rebound advantage. The defense forced 11 Nazareth turnovers and outscored the Golden Flyers 17-9 off of those turnovers.

The Hawks face a big test when they host first place Stevens on Tuesday night. The #24 ranked Ducks lead the Empire 8 with a perfect 5-0 conference record and are 14-1 overall. Game time will be at 8 p.m.