Men's Basketball

Second-Half Stevens Run Dooms Hartwick Men's Basketball

HOBOKEN, NJ - A critical 14-0 second-half Stevens run proved to be the difference in a 60-52 Ducks victory over Hartwick in men's basketball on Tuesday night. The Hawks trailed by one point, 40-39, with just over 10 minutes left in the contest but were held scoreless for the next six minutes as Stevens took a double-digit lead. 'Wick got the Duck lead down to seven points on two occasions in the closing minutes but could get no closer.

Hartwick slips to 7-7 overall and 1-5 in Empire 8 play. The Ducks are now 10-5 and even up their mark in the conference at 3-3.

Jan Cocozziello (Scotch Plains, NJ) paced 'Wick with 14 points. Ramond Doyley (Yonkers, NY) and Mark Blazek (Erie, PA) each added nine points with Doyley contributing a team-high seven rebounds.

Stevens' Anthony Passalacqua led all scorers with 17. Virgil Gray added 15 points for the Ducks and Simon Smith notched 12 rebounds.

Things did not start out well for the Hawks as they trailed 17-4 in the early going and did not hit their first field goal until the 12:32 mark of the opening period. Despite trailing by 13 points at three separate times in the opening half, the Blue and White was still able to get the Ducks' advantage down to single digits, 28-19, at the break.

The deficit evaporated quickly as the Hawks outscored Stevens 13-1 over the first four and a half minutes of the second half to take a 32-29 lead. Blazek (5) and Doyley (4) combined for nine of the Hawks' 13 points in the run.

Less than two minutes later Gray converted a layup to put the Ducks up by two points, and they would not trail again. After a Doyley bucket cut the Stevens lead to two, 40-38, with 10:52 to play, the Ducks would go on their game-changing surge en route to the victory.

Hartwick finished the game shooting 19 of 49 (38.8%) from the floor. The team hit 2 of 15 from three-point land, and made only 50% of their free throws (12 of 24). The Hawks recorded a season-high 15 steals in the game, led by Albe Hulick's (Greenville, NY) four. A.J. Beaulieu (Chicopee, MA) contributed three.

Stevens finished the game with a 39-33 edge in rebounds and hit 46% from the field. The Ducks were dismal from the free-throw line hitting just 38% (11 for 29).

Hartwick returns to Binder Gymnasium for a pair of weekend games in the Empire 8. The Hawks host Elmira (2-13, 0-6 E8) on Friday night at 8 p.m. and first-place RIT (10-4, 6-0 E8) on Sunday at 2 p.m.