Mark Blazek had team-highs of 19 points and five assists Tuesday to help the Hartwick College men's basketball team to a 68-66 victory over host Stevens Institute of Technology in the Empire 8 Conference.
Blazek hit three of Hartwick's five three-pointers and finished 8-for-16 from the field. Anthony Keane contributed 18 points and Jared Suderley had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the defending E8 champion Hawks (16-2, 5-2), who trailed, 34-32, at halftime.
Mike Cutri sank three three-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points for the Ducks (13-4, 5-2), who received 14 points from Sheldon Jones and 10 points and 12 rebounds from Simon Smith.
Chris Ryder, who scored his 1,000th point for Hartwick this past Saturday, finished with eight points and Laurens graduate Aaron Laing had six.
The Hawks visit E8 rivals Utica on Friday and Ithaca on Saturday.
Hartwick 68, Stevens 66
HARTWICK (16-2, 5-2): Mark Blazek 8-16 0-0 19, Anthony Keane 7-9 4-5 18, Jared Suderley 5-9 1-1 12, Chris Ryder 2-7 4-5 8, Aaron Laing 2-2 2-2 6, Victor Angeline 1-2 0-0 3, Andres Carpio 1-8 0-0 2, Jon Zehe 0-0 0-0 0, Mike Geisser 0-2 0-0 0, Christian Laputka 0-2 0-0 0, Travis Godley 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-58 11-13 68.
STEVENS (13-4, 5-2): Mike Cutri 11-19 0-0 25, Sheldon Jones 5-15 3-3 14, Simon Smith 3-7 4-6 10, Matt Skrelja 3-7 1-2 7, Max Schwartz 2-5 1-2 5, Russ Thompson 1-8 0-0 3, Andrew Meszaros 1-2 0-0 2, Kenny Gan 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin McManamy 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 26-64 9-13 66.
Halftime: Stevens, 34-32. Three-point field goals: H 5 (Blazek 3, Suderley, Angeline); S 5 (Cutri 3, Jones, Thompson).
Delhi 73, C-G 52
Josh Brown had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead SUNY Delhi to a Mountain Valley Conference win at Columbia-Greene Community College.
Alington Paul contributed 14 points for the Broncos, who received 10 apiece from Rishwad Hendricks and Ray Warren.
Delhi (18-3, 9-1), which is ranked eighth among NJCAA Division III programs, outscored C-G, 30-9, over the last eight minutes.
Desmian Greer scored a game-high 20 points for C-G, which rallied from an 18-point deficit in the first half to tie the score at 43.
The Broncos, who took a 35-24 lead into halftime, visit third-ranked Herkimer on Friday.
Delhi 73, Columbia-Greene 52
SUNY DELHI (18-3, 9-1): Nick Dunbar 0 0-0 0, Ray Warren 4 2-5 10, Jonathan Hurtado 1 0-0 2, Quayshaun Mitchell 0 1-2 1, Rishwad Hendricks 5 0-0 10, Stefan Bock 1 2-2 4, John Brown 8 2-3 18, Shakeel Simmons 0 0-0 0, Terrynce Wilson 3 1-2 8, Jonathan Annan 2 0-0 6, Tyrese Campbell 0 0-0 0, Alington Paul 5 4-6 14, Devonte Peterson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 29 14-22 73.
COLUMBIA-GREENE (7-12): Jeff Crank 1 0-0 3, Kevin Driscoll 1 0-0 3, Desmian Greer 7 5-8 20, Jon Halligan 2 0-0 4, Dienet Saint Jean 6 2-3 15, Brett Zimmerman 2 3-5 7. TOTALS: 19 10-16 52.
Halftime: Delhi, 35-24. Three-point field goals: D 1 (Wilson); C 4 (Greer, Driscoll, Crank, Saint Jean).
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Hartwick 65, Stevens 51
Sophomore Kate Purcell scored a team-best 21 points for visiting Hartwick (14-3, 6-1), who jumped to a 25-18 halftime lead en route to an Empire 8 Conference victory over the defending conference champion.
Purcell hit two three-pointers and finished 11-for-12 at the foul line for the Hawks, whose third consecutive victory over Stevens marked their fifth straight win overall and 12th in their last 13 games.
Classmate Maria Foglia contributed 13 points. She sank 7 of 8 shots from the free throw line, where Hartwick went 26-for-33 as a team.
The Ducks (7-10, 4-3) never led but tied the score three times, the last on a basket by Jillian Barrett to make it 13-all with 6 minutes, 31 seconds left in the opening half.
Tracey Koch's foul shot 31 seconds later gave the Hawks the lead for good as they closed the first half on a 12-5 run.
Cooperstown graduate Samantha Fox contributed six points and a team-best six rebounds for the Hawks, who turned 26 turnovers by Stevens into 22 points.
Barrett had game-highs of 23 points, eight rebounds and three three-pointers for the Ducks, who got 10 points from Victoria Webber.
Hartwick, which is 6-1 in conference play for the first time since 1998-99 _ when the Empire 8 was known as the Empire Athletic Association _ visits Utica on Friday before heading to first-place Ithaca on Saturday.
HARTWICK 65, STEVENS 51
HARTWICK (14-3, 6-1): Kate Purcell 4-8 11-12 21, Maria Foglia 3-10 7-8 13, Lee Arduini 2-3 4-6 9, Katrina Caulfield 3-5 2-2 8, Samantha Fox 3-6 0-1 6, Carlee Hirt 2-5 1-2 5, Josefine Vincents 1-5 0-0 2, Tracey Koch 0-4 1-2 1, Brittany Ladner 0-0 0-0 0, Kait Veit 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-46 26-33 65.
STEVENS (7-10, 4-3): Jillian Barrett 8-13 4-6 23, Victoria Webber 2-10 4-4 10, Avis Benjamin 3-5 0-0 6, Molly Spadaro 2-3 0-0 6, Dawn Garcia 2-8 0-0 4, Kate Cox 1-3 0-0 2, Molly Herforth 0-1 0-0 0, Olivia Schultz 0-0 0-0 0, Jen Thompson 0-2 0-0 0, Vicki Zucker 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-45 8-10 51.
Halftime: Hartwick, 25-18. Three-point field goals: H 3 (Purcell 2, Arduini); S 7 (Jillian Barrett 3, Webber 2, Spadaro 2).
