Men's Basketball

Cocozziello's 28 Lifts Hartwick Past Alfred

ALFRED, NY - The Hartwick College men's basketball team (12-12) got back to .500 on the season and kept its postseason hopes alive with a 57-42 victory over Alfred University Friday night at the McLane Center. Jan Cocozziello (Scotch Plains, NJ) led the way for the Hawks with a game-high 28 points. In the process, the senior guard climbed past Tim O'Brien (1979-83) and Joe Britton (1988-92) into second on the all-time Hartwick scoring charts with 1,810 career points.

Cocozziello shot 12-of-23 for the game, added nine rebounds and two steals. He was the only Hartwick player to reach double figures. Classmate Ramond Doyley (Yonkers, NY) contributed seven points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

The Hawks dominated the game down low outscoring the Saxons 24-4 in the paint. 'Wick also held a 44-21 edge in rebounds. The Hawks shot 47% from the floor and held Alfred to just 29% shooting.

The Saxons didn't venture too close to Hartwick's basket as 11 of their 14 baskets on the night were from three-point range. In fact, 36 of their 49 shot attempts on the day were from behind the arc.

Hartwick took an eight-point lead (31-23) into halftime with Cocozziello scoring 10 points and Albe Hulick (Greenville, NY) adding six to pace the team. The Hawks would break the game open early in the second half as Cocozziello dropped in three straight baskets, and Greg Bankowski (Schenectady, NY) added another to give 'Wick its biggest lead, 39-23, with 16 minutes left in the game.

The Hawks held at least an 11-point edge for the next 13 minutes of play until Alfred cut it to eight (50-42) with 3:04 to play. Alfred got another opportunity to dig further into the 'Wick lead following a turnover, but a Saxon three-point attempt was off the mark. Cocozziello made Alfred pay at the other end with a bucket to build the lead back up to 10 points with 1:39 on the clock and the Hawks iced the game with five free throws down the stretch.

Hartwick has now won three straight and four of its last five games. The team wraps up the regular season tomorrow versus Stevens. A victory would keep the Hawks' ECAC postseason hopes alive.

The six 'Wick seniors will be honored in a brief ceremony prior to the game, with the dedication of the newly renovated gymnasium to Nick Lambros '59 occurring at halftime.