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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team fell behind early to the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers and never recovered as it fell 63-50 in its first home game of the 2011-12 season on Wednesday evening at the Reich Family Pavilion. The Mount gained the lead less than four minutes into the first half and never relinquished as it improved their record to 1-1. Hartford, which was led by Nate Sikma and Corban Wroe, a pair of freshmen, falls to 0-3.
The Hawks could not get things going offensively as they combined to shoot just 27.7-percent (13-of-37) on the game, including a 4-of-24 (16.7-percent) performance from three point land. Mount St. Mary's, which shot 50.0-percent from both the floor (21-of-42) and from behind the arc (6-of-12), had three players reach double figures as Danny Thompson, Josh Castellanos and Raven Barber finished with 17, 16 and 13 points, respectively. Thompson pulled down 12 boards to compile a double double, the first for a Mountaineer this season.
Sikma and Wroe each scored 10 points while classmate Nwakamma added eight points and two blocks for the Hawks. Clayton Brothers finished with five points and five boards, a team-high.
With the Hawks leading 4-2 in the game's opening minutes, Mount St. Mary's used a 15-1 run to gain the lead and build a 13 point lead at 18-5 with 13:14 to play in the first half. The Mountaineers went on to outscore Hartford, 22-13, over the remainder of that half to send the Hawks into the locker rooms facing a 22-point deficit, their largest this season, at 40-18.
The Mountaineers took over the beginning of the second half as they strung together a 7-1 run to increase their lead to 28. After the visitors built a lead of 29 points, the largest of the contest, with 11:15 remaining, Hartford managed to cut its deficit to 20 using nine unanswered points sparked by two-straight lay-ups by Sikma and Jamie Schneck. Wes Cole's three-pointer with 5:16 remaining finished Hartford's run and closed the gap to 20.
The Hawks went on to outscore their opponents, 8-0, using eight-straight free throws over the final 2:32 to bring the score to 63-50, the eventual final.
Hartford will be back in search of its first victory of the season on Saturday when it travels to Providence, R.I. to face Brown for the first of two match-ups against an Ivy League opponent this season. In last year's meeting between the two teams, Hartford led from start to finish and scored a 58-46 defeat of the Bears in West Hartford. The Hawks and Brown Bears are scheduled to tip-off at 5:00 p.m.
