Score: St. Lawrence University 87, Elmira College 78
Records: St. Lawrence (6-1), Elmira (2-4)
Location: Canton, N.Y. -- Burkman Gymnasium
 
CANTON, N.Y. -- Elmira College men's basketball suffered a heart-breaking, 87-78, loss in overtime to St. Lawrence University after Henry Cuffee's '19 late tip shot as time expired, sent the game into overtime on Sunday afternoon. 

The Purple and Gold entered today's contest prepared, staying toe-to-toe with the Saints in the first half of play. EC used exceptional 3-point shooting to maintain a 43-37 lead in the half. Hayden Harkins '18 led the Soaring Eagles' barrage from distance, going 3-of-6 from the beyond the arc. As a team, the Purple and Gold went 8-for-15 from distance in the half. On the other hand, St. Lawrence only connected on two of its six attempts from 3-point land.

Cuffee was also instrumental as Soaring Eagles gained the first half lead. Cuffee paced EC in points with 11 and led all players with five first-half rebounds. The Purple and Gold took advantage of his rebounding, getting five second-chance points in the opening half.

The evenly played contest continued into the second half, as the Saints started the period on an 8-0 run to take a 45-43 lead. However, the Soaring Eagles would not be deterred, as they went on their own 9-to-0 run to storm back out to a 52-47 lead at the 13:57 mark. EC continued its aggression when a Harkins 3-pointer expanded the Soaring Eagles' lead to a game-high 11 points, 62-51, with 9:30 left in the contest. The Saints had no answer for Harkins' shooting prowess, as the junior forward went 7-for-13 from deep for a season-high 21 points.

Unfortunately for the Purple and Gold, they could not keep the Saints out of the game. St. Lawrence pulled the deficit to a manageable 65-64, with 3:36 left. The Soaring Eagles answered quickly, as freshman Jeremy Every '20 sunk a 3-point shot to make it a 68-64 game, with 3:15 remaining.

Both programs traded buckets for the next two minutes until a Kyle Edwards 3-pointer gave the Saints their second lead of the half, 71-70. With four seconds left, the Soaring Eagles inbounded the ball down 72-70. The play was drawn up for an Alex Ischiropoulos '20 3-pointer to win it, but it hit the back of the iron and rimmed out. Fortunately for Elmira, Cuffee was buried under the net for any rebound opportunity and he grabbed the ball and went right back up with it. His first attempted layup was missed, but he grabbed his own board and put the ball in the bottom of the net as time expired to send the game into overtime.

Unfortunately for the Soaring Eagles, the Saints entered overtime on a tear. St. Lawrence stormed out to a 6-to-0 run to expand the lead to 78-72. The Saints would not look back, as Elmira's overtime deficit quickly expanded to 11 points, 87-76, with just 15 seconds remaining in the contest. The Purple and Gold had no answers in the extra period and ultimately fell to the Saints, 87-78.
 
Turning Point
The Soaring Eagles took their largest lead of the game, 62-51, with 9:30 remaining in the contest. From that point, the Saints started to chip away at the lead. In the next six minutes, the lead would evaporate to 65-64. St. Lawrence went on an 8-5 run in the final 3:30 to take the 72-70 lead. Cuffee was able to send the game into overtime, but by that point, the Saints had gained all of the momentum. St. Lawrence stormed out to an early lead in the overtime period that the Soaring Eagles could not overcome.

Inside the Box Score

• Elmira shot 27-for-62 (43.5%) from the field, as the Saints went 31-for-49 (63.3%).
• The Soaring Eagles went 14-for-34 (41.2%) from 3-point land, while St. Lawrence shot 4-for-11 (36.4%) from distance.
• EC out-assisted the Saints 21-to-16.
• The rebounding totals were close throughout the contest, as St. Lawrence out-rebounded the Soaring Eagles 30-to-28.
• St. Lawrence committed 11 turnovers, compared to Elmira's 13.
• Harkins paced the Purple and Gold in points with 21.
• Harkins hit seven of his 13 attempted 3-point shots.
• Cuffee finished with a double-double, 15 points and 11 rebounds.
• Every (11), Ischiropoulos (11) and Justin Porrett '19 (10) round out the Elmira double-digit scorers.
• Anthony Abate '19 led all players with a game-high six assists.
• The Saints' Riley Naclerio paced all scorers with 37 points.
• Naclerio also finished with a double-double, 37 points and 10 rebounds.

News and Notes

• Elmira's overall record falls to 2-4.
• Today's matchup was EC's first overtime contest of the season.
• Today's meeting is the first overtime game in the all-time series between Elmira and St. Lawrence.
• The Soaring Eagles haven't played an overtime matchup since the 75-74 loss at the hands of Stevens Institute of Technology on January 4th, 2016. 
• The game against the Ducks was also the last time that a Soaring Eagle hit a buzzer beater to send a contest to overtime.  
• Harkins' 21 points are tied for the second-highest total of his career.
• Harkins' 21-point effort marks the third time that the forward has hit the 20-point benchmark.
• Abate's six assists are a new career high.
• Cuffee's double-double is the second of his career.
• Ischiropoulos' 11 points are tied for his career high.
• Every finished the contest with his third double-digit scoring output of the season.

Up Next
Elmira will head to the nation's capital to challenge the Catholic University of America on Saturday, December 17th. The contest is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.