.JPG)
ONEONTA, N.Y. - Jan Cocozziello (Scotch Plains, N.J.) netted a game-high 28 points and Kyle Phillips (Ashland, Mass.) collected his first collegiate double-double as Hartwick defeated visiting Alfred 76-61, Friday evening in Empire 8 Conference men's basketball action at Binder Gym. The victory completes a season sweep for the Hawks.
Cocozziello connected on 11 of 19 shots from the floor in the victory. The junior moved into eighth on the all-time scoring list, passing Hartwick Athletic Hall-of-Fame inductee Les Miller. Cocozziello needs seven points in Saturday's season finale to surpass Dave Versocki for seventh in school history. As side from his 28 points, he hauled down nine rebounds and dished out four assists before being taken out with two minutes left in the contest.
Phillips finished the game with a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. The sophomore bested his former career-high of 10 points set against St. John Fisher earlier in the year. Phillips converted eight of 13 shots, including a three-pointer.
Hartwick, now 10-14 overall and 5-10 in league play, led from opening tip to finish. Cocozziello gave the Hawks the lead for good with a jumper 18 seconds into the game. The lead grew to 7-0 before Alfred got on the board at 13:57 on a jumper by Mike Stopera. After the Saxons cut the deficit to 11-8, Hartwick used an 8-0 spurt to push the lead to 19-8. The advantage grew to as many as 13 as the Hawks took a 36-25 lead into intermission.
Trailing 42-27 with 18:22 left, the Saxons used a 13-5 run to pull within seven, but the Hawks countered with a run of their own to push the lead back up to 16 with 8:46 left on a three-point play by Cocozziello. Alfred did manage to shave the deficit to 60-51, but couldn't get any closer as Hartwick responded with a 13-3 run to get the lead up to as many as 19.
Sean D'Auria led Alfred, now 2-22 overall, with 12 points, while Ron Smith and Ellis Walsh finished with 11 and 10 points respectively. Jared Patt fell one point short of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Hartwick converted 30 of 56 shots from the floor in the victory (.536), while Alfred was held to a 22 of 61 (.361) effort overall.
The Hawks will end the 2007-08 campaign, Saturday as they host St. John Fisher at 4 p.m.
