ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's basketball team brings the 2017-18 campaign to a close with back-to-back home games on Friday and Saturday, February 16-17, at Speidel Gymnasium. The Soaring Eagles start off the busy weekend with a 6:00 p.m. bout against the Stevens Institute of Technology, before wrapping up the season the following day at 3:00 p.m. versus Houghton College.
LAST TIME OUT
The Soaring Eagles were defeated by the Cardinals of St. John Fisher, 100-63, in their last road game of the season on Tuesday night in Rochester, New York. Within the first minute of regulation, freshman forward
Shawn Backus '21 scored EC's first five points with a layup and a 3-pointer. Elmira continued to keep it close with just under seven minutes left in the first half, when junior guard
Justin Porrett '19 netted a 3-pointer to bring the Soaring Eagles within one point of the Cardinals, 31-30. Elmira headed into intermission down just 11 points, but was unable to prevent the Cardinals from continuing to extend their lead throughout the second half. A scoring drought for Elmira that lasted nearly six minutes allowed St. John Fisher to continue to dominate until the final buzzer. Porrett led the Soaring Eagles in points (12), rebounds (8), and assists (7), while Backus and senior forward
Hayden Harkins '18 scored nine points apiece.
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DROPPING DIMES
EC's Porrett has had a successful year dishing the ball to his teammates. He leads the Empire 8 with 8.1 assists per game and a 3.3 assist-to-turnover ratio. With 178 assists on the season, Porrett ranks second overall in Division III for both total assists and assists per game, while his assist-to-turnover ratio ranks 13th. With two games remaining, Porrett is only four assists shy of matching EC's single-season record of 182, which is held by Reggie Rollins '88.
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3-POINT SPECIALIST
Elmira's Harkins moved into ninth-place all-time in single-season history with 69 3-point makes. Harkins is just two shy of his career-high of 71, which he accomplished his freshman season ('14-'15) and is tied for sixth all-time with Ryan Bennett '01 ('99-'00 and '00-'01). With two more makes, Harkins (247) can tie Bennett for second all-time in career 3-pointers (249).
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SCOUTING STEVENS
The Ducks currently rank first in the Empire 8 with a conference record of 12-2 (18-5 overall). Stevens leads the conference with an offense that is averaging 82.2 points per game and collects 43.9 rebounds per game. The Ducks began conference play on a five-game win streak and have won six of their last seven games this season. Sophomore guard Spencer Cook '20 leads the team with 17.5 points per game, which ranks third in the E8. Cook leads the conference in 3-point shooting percentage (45.1) with 55 made 3-pointers on the year. Senior forward Thomas Cook '18 leads the Ducks in rebounds per game (6.2) and shots blocked (29), contributing to Stevens' defensive dominance in 2017-18.
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SCOUTING HOUGHTON
After beginning the season 3-1, the Highlanders have lost 19 consecutive contests, dropping their overall record to 3-20. The reason for these struggles can be traced back to Houghton's offensive woes, as it ranks last in the nine-team E8 in points per game (63.9). This has resulted in a conference-low minus-15.6 scoring margin this year. A main contributor to these deficiencies is a lack of support for the team's two leading scorers, Dylan Lambert and Carl Holmes. Lambert, a junior guard from Amherst, New York, paces the conference and ranks 45th in all of Division III in points per game with 20.8. Lambert also leads the team in rebounds (6.3) and is tied for first in assists per game (2.9). Holmes, on the other hand, is averaging 14.7 points to go along with 2.9 assists per game. These two guards importance is shown in their minutes played per game, as Lambert (35:13) is 33rd in the country in that category and Holmes (34:26) is 60th. Besides these two effective guards, just three Highlanders are averaging over 5.0 points per game.
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