Complete Game Notes

ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's basketball team is set to kick off the Empire 8 Conference portion of the 2016-17 schedule, as the Soaring Eagles renew the longest-running rivalry in program history against the Hawks of Hartwick College on Tuesday night. Tip-off for the home opener at Speidel Gymnasium is set for 8:00 p.m.

FEEL LIKE THE FIRST TIME

• Tuesday's contest against Hartwick will be the first played at home for Elmira in the 2016-17 season.
• The Soaring Eagles played their first nine games away from the friendly confines of Speidel Gymnasium, going 0-4 in true road bouts and 2-3 in neutral site games.
• It is the second time in the past three seasons that the Purple and Gold have been forced to wait until January of the new year to open play at home; the 2014-15 edition of the Soaring Eagles played St. John Fisher College on January 1, 2015, at Speidel to begin the home portion of their schedule.
• Since the 2000-01 season, EC has won six of its 16 home openers, with the last such victory coming on November 23, 2013, by a final score of 74-64 against Hilbert College.

ROOKIES SCORE FROM DEEP

• In their final game of the 2016 portion of the schedule against Messiah, the Soaring Eagles were led by freshmen guards Jesse Adelson '20 and Alex Ischiropoulos '20.
• Both freshmen made their first career starts against the Falcons.
• Adelson scored a team-high 20 points in just his second collegiate game.
• Adelson was efficient from the floor, making 7-of-11 attempted field goals. He also flashed his 3-point prowess by making 6-of-9 treys.
• Adelson became just the third Soaring Eagle to score 20-or-more points in a game this season, along with Henry Cuffee '19 (24 vs. SUNY Canton) and Hayden Harkins '18 (21 at St. Lawrence).
• Ischiropoulos was second on the team with a career-high 18 points.
• Ischiropoulos shot 50.0-percent from the floor (7-for-14) and from 3-point range (4-for-8).

HARTWICK AT A GLANCE

• The Hawks are the defending Empire 8 Conference Tournament Champions, and finished 2015-16 with a 19-9 overall record and a 12-4 mark in league play.
• After beating Nazareth and St. John Fisher in the E8 Tournament, Hartwick was defeated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 80-69, by Babson.
• This season, the Hawks are off to one of their hottest starts in program history; their 7-2 record through the first nine games of the year is the best for Hartwick since starting 9-0 in the 2011-12 season.
• Of the two losses on Hartwick's record this season, one came against fellow 2015-16 NCAA Tournament qualifier, Keene State, by a score of 79-63 on November 18th.
• Reigning Empire 8 Tournament MVP, Jake Sinicki, paces the team in scoring, as the 6-foot-5-inch forward has averaged 16.4 points per game heading into the tilt with EC.
• Sinicki netted a career-high 32 points in a loss to Wesleyan on November 26th, the most points scored by a Hawk so far this season.
• Last season, Sinicki averaged 17.5 points per game in the series vs. Elmira.
• Hartwick owns three of the league's top-10 leading scorers, the most in the conference: Sinicki (fifth), Joey Lufkin (sixth, 16.3 PPG), and Brandon LaForest (eighth, 15.7 PPG).
• As a team, the Hawks rank second in the E8 in both scoring with 82.3 points per game and shooting percentage at 46.5-percent.