ONEONTA, NY - Jan Cocozziello's (Scotch Plains, NJ) bucket with 10 seconds to play and three straight Hartwick stops on the defensive end lifted the 'Wick men's basketball team to a 52-51 victory over 21st ranked St. John Fisher Friday night at Binder Gymnasium.
The win for the Hawks is their first over the Cardinals in 22 meetings dating back to 1989. The Hawks, who snap a six-game slide, are a game from the .500 mark at 8-9 and improve to 2-7 in the Empire 8. Fisher slips to 14-3 and 6-2.
Following Cocozziello's jumper to give the Hawks the one-point edge, Fisher's Matt Newman drove the length of the court looking for the tying basket, but senior forward Ramond Doyley (Yonkers, NY) met him with a two-handed block that went out of bounds.
After a Cardinal timeout with 4.6 seconds left, it was Cocozziello who then denied Newman again with a block. With 1.2 ticks to play, the ball went to reigning Empire 8 Player of the Week Ozell Franklin, but his desperation three-point attempt from the right side was short giving the Hawks the win.
The Hawks stayed with the Cardinals in the second half despite going without a field goal for the first 10 minutes of the period. Albe Hulick (Greenville, NY) gave 'Wick a 39-38 lead with 9:41 to go in the contest, but a 9-0 Fisher run over the next three and a half minutes would give the team its biggest lead of the game, 47-39, with 5:47 left.
Hartwick battled back as Mark Blazek (Erie, PA) drilled his fifth three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to five points and following a Cardinal basket, a Doyley tip-in, a jumper by Cocozziello and a pair of free throws from senior Mike Tracy (Morris, NY) quickly made it 49-48 Fisher with 1:43 showing on the clock.
The Cardinals turned the ball over on their next possession, and following a Blazek miss, with under a minute remaining, A.J. Beaulieu (Chicopee, MA) came up with a big offensive board leading to a Cocozziello basket with 29 seconds left.
On Fisher's next trip down the floor, the Hawks were whistled for a foul and Matt Newman connected on both free throws to give his squad a 51-50 lead with 19 seconds to play, but Cocozziello's heroics would give the Hawks the lead for good on their next possession.
The lead would change hands 15 times in the game, including six times in the second half. The Hawks shot just 37% from the floor, but their defense forced the Cardinals into 15 turnovers which were turned into 21 'Wick points.
Blazek was big from the outside hitting 5 for 7 from three-point range. He finished the game leading all players with 17 points. Cocozziello and Hulick each added 11 points. Doyley and Hulick were big on the glass for the Hawks combining for 17 of the team's 29 rebounds.
St. John Fisher was led by Franklin's 13 points. Michael Wopperer added 12. Will Cornett pulled down eight boards and dished out six assists.
Hartwick next plays on Sunday, Feb. 1 against Nazareth at 2 p.m. The Hawks defeated the Golden Flyers on Jan. 3 by a count of 80-65.
