STAFF REPORT
Hartwick College’s chances of hosting the Empire 8 Conference women’s basketball tournament took a heavy blow following a 65-55 loss to visiting Ithaca College on Friday.
Kate Purcell, Maria Foglia and Brittney Dumas scored in double figures for the second-place Hawks (16-6), who fell to 8-3 in conference.
The first-place Bombers (19-2) improved to 10-1 in the E8. Both teams have three conference games remaining.
Purcell had 18 points. Foglia and Dumas finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
When Purcell hit a three-pointer with 3:21 left, Hartwick trailed, 53-48. Two free throws by Purcell with 2:39 to play made it 55-50.
But Ithaca answered with a layup by Geena Brady and a three-pointer from Christie Bonacci, the latter making the score 60-50, with 59 seconds left.
Brady and Bonacci had 13 and 11 points, respectively.
The Hawks will host Elmira College at 4 p.m. Saturday. Hartwick will honor senior guard Marie Davison and senior manager Jenna Kurtz before the game. Also, Foglia has a chance of scoring her 1,000 college point. She needs 14 points.
O-State 55, Fredonia 40
Junior Alyshia Crawford scored her college high of 23 points as host Oneonta State closed in on a SUNY Athletic Conference playoff spot.
The Red Dragons (11-11, 8-7) pulled two games ahead of Fredonia (11-9, 6-8) and stands in fifth place in the SUNYAC standings. The top six teams qualify for the playoffs.
O-State will play another team fighting for a playoff spot Saturday when it hosts Buffalo State at 2 p.m. The Bengals (11-10) are 7-7 in conference.
Crawford went 7-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Oneonta scored the first 13 points and led by 26 with eight minutes left.
Sarah Longto contributed 10 points, six rebounds and two blocks for O-State.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Ithaca 76, Hartwick 70
Thirty-one points and 10 rebounds by Jared Suderley weren’t enough to prevent host Hartwick College from falling in an Empire 8 Conference game.
Suderley made 12 of his 19 shots from the floor, but Ithaca shot 28-for-49 from the floor, including 9 of 18 from three-point range.
Hartwick (11-11, 3-8) has lost five straight.
The Bombers (15-6, 9-2) received 23 points from Sean Rossi, who made four of his six three-point attempts.
A jumper by Suderley with 10:06 left pulled Hartwick to 56-54. It was still 59-56 after Suderley made a layup with 8:10 to play, but Ithaca responded with an 11-5 run capped by a jumper by Eli Maravich _ the nephew of basketball Hall of Famer Pete Maravich. Maravich’s shot made the score, 70-61.
The Hawks drew no closer than four points the rest of the way.
Peter Melanson contributed 12 points for Hartwick, which will host Elmira College at 6 p.m. Saturday.
O-State 79, Fredonia 67
The host Red Dragons raced to a 14-point halftime and continued build on their lead in a SUNY Athletic Conference victory.
Zach Mager scored a game-high 26 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the floor as Oneonta State improved to 3-19 overall and 2-13 in the conference. Mager, who also had nine rebounds, had 19 points by halftime.
Seth Thomsen hit a pair of free throws with 5:03 left that extended the Red Dragons’ lead to 77-53.
The Blue Devils closed on a 16-2 run.
O-State avenged a 72-66 loss earlier this season to Fredonia (6-14, 2-12).
Jack Dignan and Dan Lee contributed 10 points apiece and combined to shoot 5-for-6 from three-point range. Lee made all three of his attempts from behind the arc.
O-State had assists on 21 of their 28 field goals. Frankie Kelly led the way with six assists.
The Red Dragons will host Buffalo State at 4 p.m. Saturday.
