ONEONTA, NY – The Hartwick Men's Basketball team notched their first win of the season in an exciting game at home against the visiting Elmira Soaring Eagles. 68-65.  Down by as much as 10, the Hawks limited turnovers and hit their shots in the second half to improve their record to 1-17 (1-9).  Elmira fell to 5-17 (3-10).
 
Certainly a tale of two halves, the Hawks were slow out of the gate when shots wouldn't fall, but they never gave in and allowed the cold shooting to effect their game plan.  Despite falling down 10 with 5 minutes to play in the first, Hartwick rattled off 6 straight on three pointers from Trevor Brink and Kevin Felasco to quickly get right back in the game. A few traded baskets later, and the game went into the half 28-22 in favor of Elmira.  Hartwick shot just 9-32 from the field and 4-21 from long range, without taking a free throw, in the half.
 
Completely unlike the first, Hartwick shot nearly 58% in the second (15-26), 8-15 from three and hit 8-11 free throws. The excitement in the game came during the 19 and 12 minute mark, where Hartwick not only erased the deficit, but took an 8 point lead and stole the momentum in the game.  Jump started by Anthony Girard and Trevor Brink, the Hawks hit 5 shots from downtown during the stretch, 4 off the hands of Girard.  Down 6 at 17:37, Girard hit a three and then another to tie the game before Kevin Felasco layup gave Hartwick their first lead of the game .    
 
After an Elmira free throw, Girard connected on another from long range before hitting a midrange jumper for his 14^th point in the first 8 minutes of the half.  Liam Drennan got in on the action as did Felasco en-route to pushing their lead to 8 which gave Wick all the momentum they needed.  Next up to the plate was Nick Eiler, who hit 2 free throws before knocking down a clutch shot from behind the arc as the shot clock expired with 8 minutes to play.  That proved a huge shot as Elmira rattled off the next 7 to bring the game within 1 at the 5:58 mark.
 
After a couple of traded baskets, momentum appeared to shift to the visitors as they took a 3 points lead under 4 to play, but the confidence was there for Girard who hit another three pointer to tie things up at 57.  Kevin Felasco came up with a huge defensive stop and steal on Elmira's next possession and quickly sent the ball out to a streaking Girard who connected on a contested layup that surely looked like a foul but allowed Hartwick to regain the lead.  Felasco hit a three on the next possession to get the lead back up to 5, this time with under 3 minutes remaining. 
 
Although Elmira connected on a couple shots down the stretch, the lead wasn't much in jeopardy as Hartwick was solid from the line when Elmira started to extend the game by fouling.  Cooper Francis and Liam Drennan hit a pair before a last second shot rimmed off to give Hartwick the win.  Had the shot fallen, it would have been a long 2 which would not have been enough to tie the game anyway.
 
Anthony Girard led the way with 19 points, all coming in the second half of play.  Nick Eiler knocked down 13 followed by Kevin Felasco with 12.  Liam Drennan rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.  He also had a team high 7 rebounds.  Cooper Francis pulled down 6 rebounds during his 21 minutes, while Trevor Brink led the team with 5 assists.  As a team, Hartwick committed just 10 turnovers, with only 3 coming in the second half.
 
The Hawks will look for another win this Friday when they host Alfred at 7:30pm in Lambros Arena.