BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The Soaring Eagles men's basketball team hit the road to Brockport on Tuesday evening to take on the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles in their first Empire 8 game of the season. Elmira stayed competitive for much of the contest but ultimately fell, 83–71.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
SUNY Brockport opened the scoring with a three-pointer before Kelton Brown responded with a backdoor layup. A Brockport run gave the Golden Eagles an 11-point edge before triples from Daemon Thomas and Alec Mercer cut the deficit to 17–12. As both sides battled, another Mercer three-pointer gave the Soaring Eagles their first lead of the game with seven minutes remaining in the first half. A competitive close to the half saw the teams trading baskets, including three-pointers from Emmanuel Karkari-Mensah and Tyler Cardello, as Brockport took a narrow 35–32 lead into halftime.

Brockport scored on its first possession of the second half, but Mercer responded quickly, knocking down a three-pointer and converting a pair of free throws to tie the game at 37. Mercer and Brown continued to lead the way for the Soaring Eagles, but a Brockport run gave the Golden Eagles a nine-point lead with just over 13 minutes remaining. Elmira refused to go away, as Brown hit a pair of deep three-pointers to make it 56–52 in favor of Brockport. Baskets from AJ Graham and Karkari-Mensah later helped Elmira tie the game at 66. Brockport responded with a 9–2 run to pull ahead, 75–68, with under two minutes to play. The Soaring Eagles battled down the stretch but ultimately came up short, 83–71.

LEADERS
Kelton Brown led Elmira with a 23-point, 13-rebound double-double, while Alec Mercer added 18 points.

UP NEXT
The Soaring Eagles return home on Friday, January 9, to take on the Hartwick College Hawks at 7:30 PM inside Speidel Gymnasium.