HAMBURG, N.Y.  – The Elmira College Men's Basketball team picked up their first win of the season on Tuesday evening, defeating the Hawks from Hilbert College 83-69. The Soaring Eagles used a 36-8 run to close out the game, giving Casey McGraw his first collegiate head coaching win.

JUST THE BASICS 
Location: Hamburg, New York | Hafner Recreation Center
Score: Elmira: 83, Hilbert: 69
Records: Elmira: (1-4, 0-0 Empire 8), Hilbert (3-3, 0-0 AMCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED :
After being outshot in the first half 43.3% to 34.4% in favor of the Hawks, the Soaring Eagles put together one of their best shooting percentages in recent history with a 76.0% clip (19-of-25) in the second frame. After trailing by a dozen going into the break, Elmira out together a 52-point second half, led by Rashaad Nurse '22 who finished the game with 20 points, 14 coming in the second.
 
As a team, Elmira had three individuals (Nurse, Dylan Jacob '24, and Bryan Adams '25) all reach double figures in the second half.
 
In the second half, the Soaring Eagles trailed by as many as 14 points with 12:03 remaining in the contest before spurting to a 13-0 run over the next five minutes to regain the lead at 63-62.
 
From there, the game belonged to the Soaring Eagles who had their lead reach as many as 14 points in the final seconds of play after Nurse sunk a pair of free throws to put the Hawks away.

ELMIRA LEADERS (30-of-57, 52.6 percent from the field) 
Bryan Adams –14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds
Dylan Jacob - 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Rashaad Nurse  - 20 points, 4 rebounds
Jeff Jung Jr. - 10 points, 3 rebounds

HILBERT LEADERS (22-of-68, 32.4 percent from the field)  
Shawn Gashi– 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Zach Miller – 11 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles return to the floor on Saturday when they take on Olivet in the first round of the Holiday Inn Rochester Downtown Tournament hosted by the University of Rochester. Tip is set for 4:00 PM on the campus of U of R.