HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Elmira College men's basketball team would find its once 15-point lead disappear on Tuesday evening against Houghton University, but late free throws would seal the deal for the Soaring Eagles in a back-and-forth contest down the stretch.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 65, Houghton 63
LOCATION: Houghton, New York | Nielsen Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (6-16, 5-10 Empire 8), Houghton (5-16, 4-10 Empire 8)
Marc Anthony Artuz '24 and Tyler Cardello '26 would get the Soaring Eagles on the board first, as each team was able to score just four points through the first 3:30 of the contest. From there, both teams would struggle from the offensive side of things, as the score remained 6-4 in favor of the Soaring Eagles with under 12 minutes remaining in the opening half.
After each team hit a three to get things going, with Elmira's coming off the hand of Owen Evans '26 just before the midway point in the frame, the Soaring Eagles would begin to pick up the pace on offense and double the Highlander score. After another three-pointer from Evans, who was 3-of-4 from deep early, the Soaring Eagles jumped out to a 28-17 lead with 3:30 remaining in the half. Good fortune continued for the Soaring Eagles, who would take a 39-25 lead into the locker room after shooting 47.1% from the floor in the frame, including a 6-of-12 clip from deep.
Evans & JJ Babcock '26 would lead Elmira in scoring in the opening half with nine and seven points, respectively, while eight different EC players recorded a bucket in the frame.
Out of the half, David Rosa would hit a much needed three-pointer for the Highlanders to trim the Soaring Eagle lead back to 11. The first seven minutes of the first half played to a three-point advantage for the Highlanders, while David Aysho '26 increased his point total to eight after a steal leading to a score.
After four consecutive misses from the free throw line for the Soaring Eagles, the Highlanders would be able to single-digits for the 7:52 mark in the opening frame, with EC leading 52-43 with 11:53 remaining in regulation.
What was once a Soaring Eagle lead of 15 would end up being a tied contest following a Highlander deep ball with 3:35 remaining in the contest following Soaring Eagle turnovers and a trio of deep balls for the home squad. Elmira would then retake the lead at 63-59 with under a minute remaining as Aysho and Dylan Jacob '24 would supply a pair of assists which led to Soaring Eagle layups when it mattered most.
Elmira would be sent to the free throw line on two occasions, where Jacob put EC ahead by two points following a made three from the Highlanders and a pair of misses from the line by the Purple & Gold.
As Houghton possessed the ball with under 20 seconds remaining down 64-62, the Highlanders would earn a trip to the line with 4.1 seconds remaining where Max Morse would make his first before missing the second, as Babcock collected a big rebound.
Babcock would make one of two from the stripe which set the Highlanders up for a last second attempt, but nothing would fall out of the timeout as Elmira went on to win 65-63.
ELMIRA LEADERS (39.3%, 21-of-64 from the floor)
David Aysho - 10 points, 4 rebounds
Quintel Clements - 8 points, 9 rebounds
*Four others with eight points
HOUGHTON LEADERS (38.3%, 23-of-60 from the floor)
David Rosa - 23 points, 3 assists, 5 blocks
Esafe Taufahema - 12 points, 10 rebounds
UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles will return back home on Friday to kick off its final regular season games inside Speidel Gymnasium when hosting the Wolves from Keuka College at 7:30 PM. Elmira will then conclude its home schedule on Saturday when hosting Utica at 4:00 PM.
