SELINSGROVE, PA – Hartwick trimmed a 13-point second-half deficit to just four with under three minutes to play only to have the Babson Beavers score the next seven points over the next minute and a half to pull away and down the Hawks 80-69 in an NCAA Division III Tournament First Round game played at Susquehanna University's O.W. Houts Gymnasium in Selinsgrove, PA Friday.
           
Four Hawks, led by Justin Pratt's (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown) 15 points and five three-pointers, were in double figures. Matt Wilson (Shelton, CT/Franklin & Marshall) added a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
           
Jake Sinicki (Endicott, NY/Maine Endwell) and Joey Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) each scored 11 for 'Wick. Brandon LaForest (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) and Trevor Norton (Mullica Hill, NJ/Ursinus College) each netted nine.
           
The Beavers forced the Hawks into 16 turnovers, which was 'Wick's second-highest total in its last 26 games. Babson would turn those miscues into 22 points on the night. Sam Bohmiller and Nick Comenale combined to hit 10 three-pointers for the Beavers. Joey Flannery scored 12 and dished out eight assists.

"Our goal was to limit Flannery and we held him to 12 but some of their other guys really stepped up and made some shots," said Hartwick head coach Todd McGuinness at the post-game press conference.  "Bohmiller was a guy that we actually would have rather shoot than some of their other players but he burned us a little bit. I thought we prepared well for them. They've been to the Final Four and we knew we'd have to bring our best game to win it."

The first half of play would be a tight affair with six tie scores and seven lead changes. Neither team led by more than five for the opening 18 minutes of action.
           
Hartwick started the game getting the ball inside to Wilson for back-to-back layups for a 7-5 lead. Consecutive buckets for Babson handed it a 10-7 lead at the first media timeout.

The Beavers grabbed a 12-9 edge before LaForest and Lufkin drained consecutive threes and the Hawks led 15-12. Babson went back in front on a three-pointer before Norton connected from deep with 9:33 left for an 18-16 edge.
           
Three straight Wilson baskets would provide the Hawks' offense over the next few minutes, but the Beavers countered on three straight possessions, capped by a Flannery dish to Charlie Rice for a 27-24 lead with 5:05 remaining. Sinicki answered with a trey to knot the score at 27.

The Beavers went ahead with 4:20 left in the first half on a Comenale layup and they stayed in front for the rest of the game.

The two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes. A LaForest three-pointer at 2:54 trimmed the gap to 33-32 but Babson would close the half on a 13-6 run and a Flannery three-pointer from mid-court at the buzzer gave the Beavers their biggest lead of the half, 46-38.
           
Wilson paced the Hawks in the first half with 10 points. Lufkin and Sinicki each had seven. Sam Bomiller would lead BC with 12 points on four three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.
           
In the opening few minutes of the second half, the Babson advantage hovered around 8-10 points. The Hawks shaved the margin to seven on a Pratt trifecta with 10:49 left to play. Back-to-back Comenale three-pointers in a 40-second window pushed the BC lead back up to 13 points, 65-52.
           
Down 69-57, the Hawks would rally, scoring the next eight points in three minutes with three's from Pratt and LaForest and a Lufkin bucket to pull within four, 69-65, with 2:48 left on the clock. The Hawks, however, would not take a shot for the next 1:50, turning the ball over twice on two straight possessions. In that time frame, the Beavers countered with a layup from Isaiah Nelson, and then a three and two from the line from Bohmiller to build an insurmountable 11-point, 76-65 advantage with 1:06 remaining.

"We try to play as fast as we can," added McGuinness. "We just turned the ball over uncharacteristically a little bit too much tonight. That's usually something we don't do."

The two teams were even in three-point baskets (11) and close in field goal shooting percentage for the game (46%-47%). Only one rebound separated the two squads with the Hawks holding a 35-34 edge. Babson would shoot 87% (13-of-15) from the free-throw line for the game. The Hawks only made it to the foul line six times.

"We are used to opponents hard hedging us but we usually can get some calls on that," said McGuinness. "Tonight they were letting it go a little bit and that hurt us."
           
Wilson would shoot 7-of-14 from the floor in the game to go along with four blocked shots. In the process, he set the Hartwick program record for rejections, which now stands at 114. He accomplished the feat in just three seasons.
           
The Hawks combined for 15 assists in the contest, led by LaForest's five. Lufkin and Norton each distributed three apiece.

"This was an incredible experience to win our conference tournament," said Norton. "That's something I'm never going to forget. Obviously we wanted to get a different result here but it was a pretty cool to say that we played in an NCAA Tournament and got that experience."
           
Bohmiller finished with a game-high 22 points for Babson. Comenale had 14 points and a game-high five steals.
           
Hartwick closes its season with a record of 19-9 overall. Tonight marks the Hawks fourth trip to the national tournament in the last six seasons.