Box Score

Elmira,  NY -- Some clutch free throw shooting from the Elmira College men's basketball team in the final two minutes of play helped the Soaring Eagles pick up their fourth win in a row, defeating Hartwick College, 81-75. The win gets EC right back into the thick of things in the Empire 8 Conference as they have a 4-5 record with five conference games remaining. Josh Keys '14 hit another milestone today, becoming EC's all-time leader in career three-pointers made. The senior from Bel Air, Maryland knocked down his 250th career three with 8:02 to play in the second half, breaking a 13-year old record previously held by Ryan Bennett '01.

Keys ended up with 11 points in the game, one of three Elmira players in double-figures. Chris Cassidy '14 had the performance of the night as the senior scored a season-high 29 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Neil Randolph '15 was the final Soaring Eagle in double-digits as he poured in 20 points and pulled down five rebounds while limiting the damage that Hartwick's Jared Suderley did on the offensive end. Suderley ended up with 19 points, just over a point off his season average, but the combination of Randolph and Matt Newell '14 limited the Empire 8's leading scorer to just six points in the first half.

The Soaring Eagles once again started strong from the opening tip, jumping out to a 5-0 lead, but Hartwick would respond. The Hawks began feeding the ball inside to Suderley, who scored four of Hartwick's next six points, giving the Hawks a one-point lead. That would be all the offense Suderley would produce for over 15 minutes of game-time as EC frustrated him with strong defense throughout the opening half.

The first half was clearly a game of runs as each team strung together mini spurts of five to six points at a time, never letting the momentum of the game swing too much either way. EC took a 19-14 lead after a pair of Cassidy free throws, but their lead quickly evaporated and turned into a deficit once the Hawks got hot from three-point range. Glenn Gavan hit two from downtown and Joey Lufkin added another as Hartwick took a five-point lead, the largest lead of the game for the Hawks.

Despite Hartwick entering the night tied at the top of the conference standings, Elmira was up for the challenge, countering every Hawks' run with a run of their own. The Soaring Eagles closed the final 2:51 of the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 36-32 lead into the locker rooms. Cassidy had six of those 11 points, the final two coming in the form of an 18-foot jumper from the top of the key with three seconds left on the clock. The senior from Colts Neck, NJ led all scorers with 12 points at the half.

EC scored 10 of the first 14 points of the second half to bring their lead to double figures. The Soaring Eagle advantage would hover around the 10-point mark for much of the second half, reaching a pinnacle of 15 following a Keys three-pointer with 8:02 to play. With that three-pointer, Keys' third of the night, the senior had 250 made threes in his career, giving him the most career three-pointers made in Elmira College history.

Hartwick did make it interesting down the stretch, cutting a nine-point deficit with 1:31 to play to just two with 36 seconds left in regulation. But the trio of Cassidy, Keys, and Randolph went a combined 9-for-9 from the charity stripe during that time to seal the 81-75 victory.

The Soaring Eagles continued their hot shooting from the field, totaling 48 percent for the game, while knocking down 10-of27 from behind the arc. The men were outrebounded by Hartwick 31-29, but EC made up for it on the other end by limited their turnovers to just five in the contest. The Purple and Gold also boasted an impressive 19-to-5 assist-to-turnover ratio in the game, highlighted by another strong performance from Derrick Vogel '14. Vogel handed out eight assists while only turning the ball over once and added six points on two three-pointers.

Keys was not the only player to hit a career milestone tonight as Hartwick's Jared Suderley set the program's all-time scoring mark late in the first half. Suderley's jumper with 1:18 to play in the first half gave the senior 1,879 career points, breaking a 26-year old record. 

The Soaring Eagles will be back in action tomorrow, February 8th as EC closes out their six-game homestand with an Empire 8 matchup against Stevens Tech. Tomorrow's game is also Class of 2014 recognition day as the men's basketball team will recognize the six seniors on this year's squad. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Speidel Gymnasium.