Oneonta, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team lost another close one on the road Tuesday night against Hartwick College. UC had chances to win the game in both regulation and overtime, but were unable to capitalize as Hartwick squeezed out the 74-72 win in OT.
Shawn Gashi (Central Square, NY/Bishop Grimes) completed the game shooting 9-for-11 at the charity stripe on his way to scoring a team-high 19 points.
Tyler Jollie (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro),
Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle), and
Justin Strielkauskas (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) each tallied 10 points in the contest, shooting a combined 6-for-11 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Gashi and Lufkin got it going in the first half, as the duo scored 18 of Utica's 31 halftime points. The two guards knocked down two shots from deep each in the half. The first half of play was close throughout, but the home Hawks took a 32-31 advantage with them into the mid-game break. Hartwick's Brandon LaForest led all scorers at the half with 13 points.
The Pioneers made up the small difference on the scoreboard in the second half thanks to nearly perfect shooting at the foul line.
Justin Strielkauskas (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) was 4-for-4 at the line in the half as UC went 8-for-9 as a team in the second. Tommy Kelly made a shot for the Hawks with 53 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score up at 61 apiece. Both Lufkin and Gashi took and missed 3-point shots in the final stretch of the game, as the game got pushed to overtime.
Free throws kept Utica in it as overtime entered crunchtime, and a clutch 3-pointer from Strielkauskas with 25 second left on the clock cut Hartwick's lead to just two points. The Hawks answered the call by making the necessary shots at the foul line to seal the game. The two point loss pushes UC's record to 7-7 overall and just 1-4 in Empire 8 competition.
Hartwick College is now 5-10 overall on the season and improve to 2-4 against E8 opponents. The team was led by Brand LaForest's game-high 24 points. Kyle Bradshaw and Tommy Kelly also scored in the double figures, combining for 29 points.
UC is officially done with its five game road trip and is set to begin a five game home stand this weekend starting with St. John Fisher on Friday. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
