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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – After playing its longest road swing of the season, a stretch that featured games in four different states, the University of Hartford men's basketball team had an impressive homecoming as it never trailed in a 56-46 victory over visiting Marist on Saturday afternoon at Chase Family Arena at Reich Family Pavilion. Seven different players contributed to the offense that helped the Hawks improve to 7-5, the best 12-game start in 16 years (2006-07).

In addition to the best 12-game start, the seven wins are the most non-conference victories since the 1989-90 season, and the second-most in the program's Division I era. In that 1989-90 campaign, the Hawks posted nine non-league wins in 15 games, finishing the season 17-11 overall.

Marist, which was led by Chavaugh Lewis' 16 points and six rebounds, dips to 4-8 on the season.

Three Hawks finished in double digit scoring, led by sophomore Nate Sikma. The forward scored 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and added a game-best eight rebounds to that number. Classmate Mark Nwakamma added 14 points in just 18 minutes on 6-of-12 shooting from the field while freshman Evan Cooper was impressive in his first career start, finishing with 11 points, five rebounds and four steals.

In the opening half, Hartford limited Marist to just three made field goals and strung together a pair of impressive offensive bursts to carry an 11 point lead into the locker rooms. During that 20 minute span, the Hawks held their opponents to a stingy 17.6 percent clip (3-of-17) from the floor.

The Red Foxes, however, managed to cash in from the charity stripe, scoring nine of their 15 points on 14 first half free throw attempts.

Hartford started things off with an 8-2 run over the first four minutes but allowed Marist to get back in the game over the next three minutes. The Red Foxes came within three points at 10-7 after scoring five of the next seven points before the Hawks got hot again, using a 7-1 spurt to take a nine point lead with 6:16 left in the half.

Hartford continued to consistently score in the stanza but was unable to extend its lead past 13 before halftime. Despite holding the Red Foxes without a field goal for a span of 11 and a half minutes, Marist hung around by converting on five of six shots from the charity stripe.

Cooper provided the Hawks with their first double digit lead, 21-11, with 5:16 to go but a pair of free throws by Marist's Devin Price cut the advantage back to single digits. A three-ball by Sikma, who finished with three from long range, pushed the lead back to double figures before Cooper drained two free throws at the 2:13 mark to give Hartford its 13 point lead at 26-13 with 2:23 remaining.

Things continued to roll for Hartford offensively in the second half as Nwakamma scored Hartford's first eight points to push the score to 34-21 four minutes in. The Hawks went up by as much as 15 points on two occasions during that stretch, reaching that mark for the first time at 40-25 on a Cooper layup with 13:16 to go.

Hartford maintained its double digit cushion until the 2:32 mark, when a three-pointer by Manny Thomas made a nine point game at 51-42 with 2:32 to go. Marist continued to rally, making three free throws in the next 30 seconds to cut its deficit to just six points.

A Nwakamma layup with 1:26 remaining followed by a free throw by Sikma put the Hawks ahead by a comfortable nine points (54-45) with 47 seconds remaining.  

The Hawks, who had 10 second chance points off nine offensive rebounds, finished with a season-best 41 boards while outrebounding Marist by 12. Hartford finished the game shooting 42.3 percent (22-of-52), but was held to just three three-pointers, a season-low. Hartford's defense was stellar, holding Marist to 29.8 percent (14-of-47) shooting from the floor and 8.3 percent from downtown (1-of-12). Both of those figures are season-bests.

Hartford has seven days off for the holidays before it concludes its non-conference slate on the road at Colorado on Saturday, December 29.