Box Score

ONEONTA, NY- Trailing by 11 points with 6:16 left in the second half, the Hartwick men's basketball team rallied with a huge 20-4 run to come from behind and defeat visiting Alfred 90-85 in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Tournament at a loud Lambros Arena on Friday night. The Hawks advance to tomorrow's championship game for the first time in three years.

"Tonight was a great game," said head coach Todd McGuinness. "It was fast paced and the environment in Lambros Arena was electric."

Senior forward Jared Suderley (Newport, NY/West Canada Valley) led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Joey Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) and Kyle Bradley (Cornwall, NY/Mansfield University) both contributed 18 points each. Bradley also pulled down a team high eight rebounds. Matt Petruccione (Saratoga Springs, NY/Bishop Maginn), Anthony Keane (Staten Island, NY/Monsignor Farrell), and Christian Laputka (Freeland, PA/Hazleton Area) all chipped in seven points.

The Saxons were led by Thomas Tsatsis' 19 points. Ryan Mahon added 10 points.

AU scored the first two buckets of the contest before the Hawks came back to tally five straight points to lead 5-4 at 17:46. The two teams exchanged baskets but Hartwick would start to pull ahead and went up 20-14 at 13:54.

It was a back and forth game for the rest of the half as both teams answered each other's shots. Alfred had its biggest lead of the first period, 49-44, with 52 seconds remaining to play in the frame. The Hawks cut the lead to three points after Glenn Gavan (Newton, NJ/Pope John XXIII) converted a layup with 29 seconds showing on the clock. The Saxons went into the locker room with a 49-46 advantage.

Mahon scored the first points on the second half on a three-pointer just six seconds in to put Alfred ahead 52-46. That score would stand for over three and a half minutes as the teams traded missed shots. 'Wick did cut the deficit down to one point, 52-51, at 15:40 with five straight points coming from Suderley.

A 13-2 spurt by AU put the Saxons ahead 63-53 at 12:37. The Hawks chipped away at the Alfred lead and got to within two points, 68-66, at 9:30. A 13-4 run by Alfred, however, increased the Saxon advantage to 81-70 with 6:16 left to play in the game.

From that point, Hartwick embarked on its game-turning run that switched the advantage to its favor. Back-to-back layups from Suderley and Keane closed the Saxon lead to 81-74 at 5:48. Free throws from Laputka and Lufkin made it a four-point contest, 81-77, with 3:37 remaining to play. A Bradley layup reduced the deficit to two points. Mahon tried to answer for the Saxons with a three-point basket but was off the mark and Bradley pulled down the rebound. Bradley was subsequently fouled by Kincel and went to the line to potentially tie the game up. Bradley sank both of his attempts and the game was knotted up at 81-all with 2:43 left to play.

Alfred looked to go ahead by three but Mike Hill's attempt was off and the Hawks regained possession. With just under two minutes remaining, Suderley connected on his only three-point attempt of the night to give the Hawks their first lead of the second half, 84-81. The two teams traded layups with 'Wick still holding a three-point advantage with 53 seconds showing on the game clock.

Tsatsis tried to tie the game at 42 seconds but missed and Keane came away with the rebound as 'Wick ran down the clock. Suderley converted the second of two free throws to give the Hawks an 89-85 edge with 12 ticks left. The Saxons subsequently turned the ball over as Keane came up with the steal and sank the front end of two free throw attempts to ice the game for Hartwick.

"We made a few big plays down the stretch and Jared showed why he was the Empire 8 Player of the Year," added McGuinness. "We made a switch to a 3-2 defense late and really slowed Alfred's attack.

The teams were close in overall shooting with Hartwick holding a slight advantage making 29-of-61 (47.5%) of its shots to Alfred's 32-of-71 (45.1%). The Saxons were a smidge better in three-point attempts (11-of-33, 33.3% to 5-of-19, 26.3% for the Hawks). 'Wick did outperform AU on the free throw line as it was good on 27-of-32 attempts (84.4%) to 10-of-14 (71.4%) for the Saxons.

The Hawks led in the paint, 44-38, points off turnovers, 12-9, and second chance points, 15-11. Hartwick also had the advantage on the glass, 40-35.

Hartwick will play Nazareth in the championship tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. at Lambros Arena. The Hawks will be looking for their second Empire 8 title after winning in 2011.



Nazareth 71, Stevens 60
Third seeded Nazareth won the first semifinal, defeating second seeded Stevens by a final score of 71-60. The Golden Flyers gained the upper hand early in the first half and never relinquished the lead the rest of the way. They built a 20-point lead in the second half and never led by less than nine over the final 20 minutes.

Naz was powered by Brad Ford's 27 points. He tied for a game-high with Maurice Mills with nine rebounds. Jack Giles added 13 points and Mitch Ford scored 12.

Nazareth led by as many as 12 points in the first half of play and took a 37-26 edge into halftime. After a 10-10 tie, Brad Ford would give the Golden Flyers the lead for the rest of the half at the 14:44 mark. Naz built three 12-point advantages in the final eight minutes of the period before taking the 11-point lead after 20 minutes.

Brad and Mitch Ford combined for 22 of the Golden Flyers' 37 points in the first half on a combined 10-of-15 shooting. Brad Ford netted 12, including a pair of threes and eight rebounds with Mitch adding 10 points.

Matt Skelja led Stevens with 17 points. Evan Klimchak and Kenny Gan each had 12 and Patrick Sabatino had 10.

The Golden Flyers will be shooting for their third E8 title after winning in both 2008 and 2010.