ELMIRA, N.Y. – The Elmira College Soaring Eagles men's basketball team hosted the Saxons of Alfred University for an Empire 8 conference matchup inside Speidel Gymnasium on Friday night. Elmira held on after a strong second half surge from Alfred to claim victory, 64-62.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Tyler Cardello opened the scoring with a pair of free throws to get EC on the board. Emmanuel Karkari-Mensah followed up with a three pointer and Alec Mercer hit a layup that started Elmira out on a 7-0 run. The Soaring Eagles went on an 8-0 run minutes later, seeing three-pointers from Jude Wilkins and Kelton Brown. Wilkins hit another three-pointer shortly after to put Elmira up 18-8 midway through the first half. JJ Babcock scored his first points of the contest driving in for a layup followed by two more layups over the next several minutes. Kelton Brown made a nice move to get inside, splitting between Saxon defenders to put Elmira up 31-20 entering the half. The Soaring Eagles shot 38 percent from the field in the first half, compared to Alfred's 23 percent.
Babcock got the scoring started in the second half with a layup, assisted by Cardello. Brown made back-to-back dunks in a thirty second span to extend the Soaring Eagles lead to 14. Wilkins continued his excellent night with an acrobatic right-handed layup over a defender on a fastbreak. Brown hit a three-pointer and drew the foul as Elmira started to pull away midway through the second half. The Saxons responded with a 10-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to eight with ten minutes remaining. The Saxons' momentum continued, going on an 8-2 run that cut Elmira's lead to two with seven minutes left. The following possession, Cardello drove in, making the layup and drawing the foul to put EC back up by seven. Baskets were traded back and forth, Brown with a couple tough finishes over Saxon defenders for Elmira. The Saxons went on an 8-2 run, trimming the lead to one point. Brown went to the line, making one of two, putting EC up by two with one second remaining. The Soaring Eagles tipped the inbound pass to run out the clock, holding on for the 64-62 victory.
LEADERS
Offensively, Brown tallied 25 points, hitting a trio of three-pointers and grabbing six rebounds. Babcock scored ten points and had five assists while Cardello had nine points, ten rebounds, and tallied three steals defensively.
UP NEXT
The Soaring Eagles will be back inside Speidel Gymnasium to close Athletics Alumni Weekend on Saturday, January 31st for an E8 matchup with the Highlanders of Houghton University. Tip-off is set for 4:00 PM.
