Sophomore Jared Suderley had 25 points and seven rebounds, and Anthony Keane flirted with a triple-double to lead Hartwick College to a 91-76 victory over visiting Stevens on Saturday that clinched the Hawks' first Empire 8 Conference men's basketball regular-season title.
Hartwick (23-2, 12-2) matched the program record for wins in a season that was set in the 1987-88 season.
"It's a great accomplishment to win the league outright and I'm really proud of my guys," said Hartwick coach Todd McGuinness, who won his 50th game and moved past Paul Culpo for fifth-place in school history in career wins. "Our three seniors, Mark (Blazek), Chris (Ryder) and Andres Carpio helped change our program and I'm really proud to have coached them."
The Hawks will host the Empire 8 Conference semifinals and final. Top-seeded Hartwick will face No. 4 Ithaca College (12-13, 9-5) at 8 p.m. Friday. Second-seeded Stevens (19-6, 10-4) and third-seeded Nazareth (17-8, 10-4) will play in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. Friday. The championship game is 4 p.m. Saturday.
The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
Hartwick won last season's E8 tournament title with a 69-58 win over St. John Fisher to advance to the D-III tournament for the first time since the 1995-96 season.
Keane finished with 16 points, nine assists and eight rebounds for a Hartwick squad that shot 57 percent from the floor.
Christian Laputka came off the bench to score his college-high of 14 points. Chris Ryder had 13 points and seven rebounds. Mike Geisser finished with 11 points.
Simon Smith and Sheldon Jones had 22 points each to lead the Ducks.
A 19-3 Hawks run gave Hartwick a 22-11 lead with 12:29 left in the first half. A 13-0 run extended Hartwick's lead to 22 with 5:47 left in the half. After Stevens cut its deficit to nine, Hartwick ended the half on a 9-2 run punctuated by Keane's dunk as time expired.
The Ducks closed to 57-49 in the second half, but a Suderley layup with 12:55 left gave the Hawks a 61-51 lead and Stevens never threatened thereafter.
Laurens graduate Aaron Laing had four points and four assists for the Hawks.
Cazenovia 76, Cobleskill 65
Afton graduate Bryant Winans scored 14 points to help host Cazenovia to a North Eastern Athletic Conference win Saturday.Brendan Doherty led Cobleskill (2-23, 2-13) with 18 points and seven rebounds. Jack Jeffres contributed 12 points and Alexis Nunez finished with nine for Cobleskill.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Stevens 60, Hartwick 54
Maria Foglia scored 22 points, but Hartwick College fell at home in an Empire 8 Conference game, a loss that snapped its 12-game winning streak.
The Hawks (21-4) finished 12-2 in conference and will be seeded second for the four-team Empire 8 Conference tournament that starts Friday at top-seeded Ithaca College. Hartwick and third-seeded Stevens (13-12, 9-5) will meet again Friday in a semifinal at 6 p.m. Ithaca and fourth-seeded St. John Fisher will play in the other semifinal at 8 p.m.
The championship is 4 p.m. Saturday, with the winner earning an automatic spot in the NCAA Division III tournament.
Hartwick's 21 wins is its most since the 1996-97 season and its 12 conference victories are a program record.
Freshman guard Jo Vincents scored 12 points and sophomore guard Kate Purcell contributed 11. Foglia, Vincents and Purcell accounted for all but eight of Hartwick's points.
The Hawks tied for a season-low with eight turnovers, finished with 11 steals, had 10 assists and shot 74% from the free-throw line. But the Hawks couldn't overcome 16-for-61 shooting from the field.
Foglia, who finished the day with seven free throws, broke the all-time Hartwick single-season mark for free throws on her sixth shot. She now has 147 for the year. Purcell contributed six steals and four steals to go along with her 11 points. Katrina Caulfield (Palmer, MA/Palmer) had a team-high seven boards.
Senior Samantha Fox (Cooperstown) had three rebounds and three blocks in her final home game at Hartwick.
O-State to play Tuesday
Oneonta State will take a 16-8 record into a SUNY Athletic Conference quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Tuesday against visiting Oswego.
The third-seeded Red Dragons are coming off a 49-44 overtime loss to second-seeded New Paltz on Friday. Oswego (12-13) is the sixth seed.
The teams split two meetings this season, with Oswego winning at home, 55-49, on Jan. 14 and the Red Dragons earning a 63-40 win at home Feb. 10.
Oneonta would play New Paltz or seventh-seeded Plattsburgh in a semifinal Friday at a site and time to be announced. The championship is Saturday. The highest remaining seed following Tuesday's quarterfinals will host the semifinals and final.
The other quarterfinals Tuesday pit top-seeded Buffalo State against No. 8 Fredonia and fourth-seeded Geneseo versus No. 5 Cortland, which features Oneonta High graduate Erin Wolstenholme on its roster.
Tickets for Tuesday's game at O-State are $5 for students and $2 for students.
Cobleskill 61, Cazenovia 57
Chelcy Moore had 18 points, 19 rebounds and four steals to lead visiting Cobleskill to a victory Saturday that clinched a spot in the North Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
Moore made two free throws with seven seconds left to cap the scoring.
The Fighting Tigers (14-11, 10-7) received 11 points from Heid Anderson and 10 points from Yasmeen Hernandez.
Cobleskill will begin play in the NEAC tournament Friday. Penn State Harrisburg will host the four-team tournament.
Tournament pairings will be announced today.
South Kortright graduate Courtenay Chambers missed two shots for Cazenovia (5-19, 4-13).
WATER POLO
Bison Invitational
Hartwick College's 16th-ranked women defeated Wagner, 14-13, and Marist, 13-9, Saturday in the Bison Invitational at Bucknell University.
The Hawks (7-3) have won five straight.
Against Wagner, Alyssa Analytis and Kamila Zakirova had three goals apiece, and Sasha Freeborn and Lisa Bass contributed two goals apiece.
Freeborn's second goal came with 1:38 left and gave Hartwick a 14-12 lead. The Seahawks scored with 41 seconds to go, but Hartwick held on.
In the win over Marist, Shannon Leonard and Zakirova each had three goals. Bass and Freeborn scored two goals apiece.
Two goals by Leonard and one from Zakirova gave Hartwick a 12-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Hartwick played two more tournament game Sunday.
Indoor Track
Region III Championships
SUNY Delhi's men and women earned NJCAA Region III titles Friday at Rochester Institute of Technology.
The Broncos' men, led by two titles apiece from Bainbridge-Guilford graduate Chris Burnett and Andre Adkins, amassed 208 points to beat runner-up Mohawk Valley, which had 122. It marks the third straight regional title for Delhi.
Tiyi Boone won three titles for Delhi's women, who finished with 161 points _ five better than runner-up Mohawk Valley.
Burnett won titles in the mile and the 1,000 meters. He finished the mile in 4 minutes, 29.40 seconds and the 1,000 in 2:37.27.
Adkins won the 60 hurdles in 8.94 and cleared 14 feet, 2 inches to win the pole vault.
Unadilla Valley graduate Tyler Foulds earned a title in the 20-pound weight throw, covering 46-0 3/4.
Other winners for Delhi were: James Cowell (400, 53.27); Ian Kowalchuk (500, 1:07.78); Dylan Lowry (800, 1:57.46), Brian Majecstic (high jump, 6-2) and Brandon Bordeau (shot put, 47-3). The Broncos also received wins from their 1,600 (3:34.35), 3,200 (8:37.97) and distance medley (10:53.64) relays.
Boone placed first in the high jump (5-4), the long jump (18-2) and triple jump (38-7). Delhi coach Justin Wood said all of those distances rank in the top five nationally.
The Broncos' 1,600 and 3,200 relays also won, with times of 4:26.04 and 10:48.72, respectively.
The NJCAA meet is March 2-3 at Eastern Illinois University.
RIT Invitational
SUNY Cobleskill received program records from its men's 1,600-meter relay and Africa Harper on Saturday in the Orange & Black Invitational at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Miguel Paulino, Grant Mcleoad, Javant'e Coley and Melique Garcia finished third in the 1,600 relay in 3:34.52, which broke the school record and qualified the quartet for the ECAC indoor championships.
Harper lowered the school record she set last week in the 200, crossing in 26.49 to place second.
The Fighting Tigers will compete in the New York State College Track Conference Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday at Hamilton College.
