ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's basketball team will resume play after a two-week break with a downstate road trip this weekend for a pair of non-conference games. The Soaring Eagles will first head to Purchase, New York, on Saturday, December 9, for a 3:00 p.m. contest against Manhattanville College. The following afternoon, the Purple and Gold will face the Violets of New York University at 1:00 p.m. inside the Hunter College Sportsplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
LAST TIME OUT
The Soaring Eagles last hit the hardwood on Sunday, November 26, at home against the Bloodhounds of John Jay College. Although the visiting Bloodhounds netted the first nine points of the game, EC responded with a 10-3 run to trim the deficit down to two points. Back-to-back 3-pointers from
Kyle McCreery '20 and
Hayden Harkins '18 then put Elmira up by one, 29-28, with three-and-a-half minutes to go in the first half. John Jay finished the half on a 6-0 run and carried the momentum into the second stanza, where the Bloodhounds extended their lead to double figures en route to a 77-66 win.
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD
Several Soaring Eagles head into this weekend's twin bill ranked among the top players in the country in several statistical categories. Leading an offense that is 30th in the nation in made 3-pointers is Harkins, as the senior sharpshooter sits in fifth place with 5.0 treys per game.
Justin Porrett '19 has done a fantastic job facilitating the EC offense from the point and is ranked fifth in assists per game (7.6) and 10th in total assists (38). In the post,
Henry Cuffee '19 is off to a banner start in 2017-18. The 6-foot-5-inch forward has posted double-doubles in four of Elmira's first five games, a mark that is tied for fifth in the nation.
SCOUTING MANHATTANVILLE
The Valiants opened the 2017-18 campaign with a trio of narrow victories, the latter coming against Western Connecticut State by a 69-63 final score on November 18. However, since then Manhattanville has dropped three in a row, with a 78-59 loss to No. 20 Eastern Connecticut State last time out on Tuesday leveling the team's overall record at 3-3. The Valiants have allowed their last three opponents to shoot an average of 52.3 percent from the field, including a season-worst 56.5 percentage (35-of-62) surrendered to Purchase College on November 30. They've also coughed up the ball more than 20 times in two of their three losses. Four players have started all six games so far this season, including 2016-17 All-MAC Freedom Second-Team honoree, Alex Tuci. The senior forward is averaging a double-double with team highs in points (14.8) and rebounds per game (11.0).
SCOUTING NYU
After reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2015-16, the Violets suffered a down season last winter, going 7-18 overall and just 2-12 within the University Athletic Association (UAA). NYU is off to a good start in 2017-18 with a 4-2 record, including a 100-87 victory over New Rochelle on Thursday. Junior transfer Ethan Feldman has made an immediate impact at NYU after spending two seasons at Tufts, as the shooting guard paces the team with 18.3 points per game, 21 3-point makes and a 65.0 field-goal percentage (39-of-60). Not far being Feldman is another transfer, Dom Cristiano, a 6-foot-8-inch forward who spent his rookie season at Division I Lafayette College. Cristiano is averaging 17.8 points to go along with 8.8 boards per game.
SERIES HISTORIES
Elmira does not have an extensive history against either of this weekend's downstate opponents. Saturday's game against Manhattanville will mark just the fifth all-time meeting with the Valiants, but the two sides haven't squared off since January of 1985. The winner of the EC-Manhattanville matchup will break a 2-2 tie between the two sides. The series with the Violets is more recent, as Elmira last faced them on November 22, 2009, in the NYU Tip-Off Tournament. That afternoon, the Violets earned a slim 54-49 victory to extend their lead in the series to an unblemished 3-0.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Soaring Eagles will play their final home game of the 2017 calendar year on Saturday, December 16, when the EC men welcome the Saints of St. Lawrence University to Speidel Gymnasium for a 4:00 p.m. non-league tilt.
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