Box Score
HOBOKEN, NJ- Despite trailing by 12 points late in the first half, the Hartwick men's basketball team rallied in the second half but fell short in the end as host Stevens came away with a 62-55 victory on Tuesday night at Canavan Arena. The loss drops the Hawks to 11-9 overall and 3-6 in the Empire 8 Conference. Stevens improves to 16-3 overall and 9-2 in the Empire 8.
Kyle Bradley (Cornwall, NY/Mansfield University) and
Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area) both scored 12 points to lead Hartwick on the night. Laputka added five steals, four rebounds, and three assists. Bradley chipped in six rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell) and
Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) combined for 18 points and eight rebounds.
Matt Petruccione (Saratoga Springs, NY/ Bishop Maginn) scored 10 points off the bench in 23 minutes of game time. He added five rebounds.
Sheldon Jones was one of two Duck players to score 20 points or more as he had a team-high 22 points. Russ Thompson scored 20 points and dished out three assists. Patrick Sabatino chipped in 10 points.
Hartwick kept pace with Stevens in the early moments of the first half as it forced two ties with the second time coming on a layup from Keane that knotted the game at 13-all with 10:29 showing on the game clock. A 17-5 Duck run that spanned over seven minutes of the game pushed the Stevens' lead to 30-18 at 2:46. Consecutive layups from Bradley whittled the lead to eight before Jones converted a layup with seven seconds remaining to give Stevens the 32-22 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Keane hit a three-point shot at 19:13 to reduce the Duck lead to seven points. That basket kick-started a 14-4 Hartwick run that also saw Suderley convert a four-point play as the Hawks tied the contest up 36-36 at 12:02.
A layup from Kenny Gan followed by a triple from Matt Skrelja pushed Stevens out to a five-point advantage at 10:49. The Hawks would pull to within one point of tying the game three times but could not take over the lead.
Hartwick trailed by two points, 51-49, following two free throws from Bradley with 2:50 remaining in the game. Jones would be fouled by
Aaron Laing (Laurens, NY/Laurens) on a three-point attempt and sank three free throws to increase the Duck edge to five points.
A Bradley layup with less than two minutes to play got the Hawks to within three points but Thompson converted two free throws to again put Steven ahead by five. Laputka would hit a layup with 1:34 showing on the clock to reduce the deficit to three points. Hartwick was poised to make a late comeback after Laputka forced a Thompson turnover but Keane turned the ball over with 1:19 remaining and the Ducks converted six straight free throws to ice the game and come out with the victory.
For the game, Hartwick held a narrow advantage in field-goal shooting (38.5%-37%). The Hawks shot 37.5% to Stevens' 25% from beyond the three-point arc. The Ducks held a small advantage in rebounds, 37-35.
Stevens blocked 11 Hartwick shots in the game as Gan led the team with seven. Stevens also forced 19 Hawk turnovers.
Hartwick returns to action next Tuesday when it faces Utica on the road. Tip-off will be at 8 p.m.
