ELMIRA, N.Y.  – In what had that making to be a tightly-contested contest with both squads coming in with the same scoring margin on the season, the Elmira College Men's Basketball team outlasted the Wildcats from Penn College 69-65 on Tuesday evening. After trailing by four headed into halftime, the Soaring Eagles held Penn College to nearly a twenty-percent lower shooting percentage in the second half (30.3%) compared to the first (50.0%) on their way to victory.
Bryan Adams '25 paced the Soaring Eagles offensively, scoring 16 of his 20 points in the second half in EC's come from behind win.

JUST THE BASICS:
Location: Elmira, New York | Speidel Gymnasium
Score: Elmira: 69, Penn College: 64
Records: Elmira: (2-6, 0-0 Empire 8), Penn College (0-5, 1-0 UE) 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Soaring Eagles found themselves in an early 7-2 deficit just three minutes into the game as the Wildcats converted on two of their first four shots with a pair of free throws. From there, the Soaring Eagles used a 6-0 run over the next 90 seconds, taking their first lead of the contest with 14:26 remaining in the opening half.  

As the half continued, Casey McGraw 's squad saw their lead increase to as many as seven on a layup from Adams, but it quickly diminished as the three-point attack of Penn College took a three-point lead just four minutes later. The teams closed out the half sharing baskets, with the Wildcats leading by four headed into the break.

Despite forcing 16 turnovers while committing just eight of their own, the Soaring Eagles saw their first half deficit sit at four points as the Wildcats shot 50.0% from the floor (12-of-24) compared to 35.0% (14-of-40) for the hosts. Penn College also shot 7-of-13 from beyond the arc, 53.8%, compared to just 21.1% for the Soaring Eagles. Marc Anthony Artuz '24 paced Elmira on the offensive end in the opening half, scoring 14 points.

Coming out of the break, Elmira went on a tear while scoring the first 11 points of the half to take a four-point lead at the 15:45 mark. After increasing their lead to as many as eight, the Soaring Eagles found themselves in yet again a closely contested ball game as the Wildcats used an 8-1 run over the next 90 seconds to trim the EC lead to just one. As play pursued, the game sat tied at 51-51 before the EC offense, and turnovers from Penn Tech saw Elmira capture a 69-65 victory.

In the second half, Adams paced Elmira with 16 points while Dylan Jacob '24 finished the game with 17 on 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Elmira saw the majority of their efficiency come in the paint, shooting 77% (10-of-13) as a team within close distance while scoring an additional seven buckets from just in front of the free throw arc.

ELMIRA LEADERS (25-of-70, 35.7 percent from the field) 
Bryan Adams – 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
Dylan Jacob - 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds
Marc Anthony Artuz – 14 points, 1 rebound 

PENN COLLEGE LEADERS (22-of-57, 38.6 percent from the field)  
Chris Cespedes – 16 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist
Gavin Barrett – 12 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals
Corey Blackwell – 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
 
UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles take a lengthy break before returning to the court on December 28^th as they travel to Binghamton for a matchup with the Division-I Bearcats in an exhibition game. Tip is set for 7:00 PM from Vestal, New York.