ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Elmira College men's basketball team traveled to Oneonta Saturday for an Empire 8 matchup. The Soaring Eagles fell in a thrilling overtime game, 100-91.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Tyler Cardello opened the game's scoring with an old-fashioned three-point play. Hartwick responded with a couple of driving layups before Alec Mercer converted a four-point play after being fouled on a triple. An 8–0 run by the Hawks put them up early, but the Soaring Eagles quickly cut the deficit to one on Kelton Brown's strong finish below the basket. There was plenty of back-and-forth action with strong shooting from both teams until a 16–3 Hartwick run made it 36–24 with eight minutes remaining in the first half. A couple of three-pointers from Emmanuel Karkari-Mensah helped spark the Soaring Eagles' offense. He knocked down three triples and added a pair of layups, fueling a 15–3 Elmira run to pull back into the game. Strong free-throw shooting down the stretch gave Elmira a 50–44 lead at halftime.

Hartwick opened the second half with a three-pointer before JJ Babcock answered with one of his own. The Soaring Eagles then scored 10 unanswered points to jump ahead by 13, but the Hawks chipped away at the lead, pulling within five with just under 10 minutes to play. Back-and-forth action kept EC's advantage around five until an 8–2 Hartwick run gave the Hawks their first lead of the half with two minutes remaining. Mercer's driving layup put EC back in front, but a pair of baskets by the Hawks pushed their lead to four. With 30 seconds left, Kelton Brown cut it to a two-point game with a driving layup. After a Daemon Thomas steal, EC called timeout to draw up a play. Brown tied the game with another driving layup with four seconds left, sending it to overtime.

It was a slow offensive start to the extra period for both teams, but Hartwick built a five-point lead with just over a minute remaining. Strong free-throw shooting from the Hawks over the final minute kept EC from getting back into the game, as they ultimately fell, 100–91.

LEADERS
Emmanuel Karkari-Mensah led the way for the Soaring Eagles with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Tyler Cardello added 19 points and 7 boards, and Kelton Brown tallied 18 points and 8 assists.

UP NEXT
The Soaring Eagles will be back at home next weekend to play St. John Fisher on Friday, February 13 at 7:30 PM. They will then celebrate Senior Night the following day as they take on Nazareth University at 4:00 PM.