BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team will have to wait until the New Year and the start of America East Conference play to pick up its first win of the 2011-12 campaign as it was taken down by the La Salle Explorers, 73-55, at Tom Gola Arena on New Year's Eve afternoon. The Hawks fall to 0-12 and kick-off league play on the road at Albany on Monday evening at 7:00 p.m while the Explorers improve to 10-4 on the season.
Wes Cole, one of three Hawks to finish in double figures on the afternoon, led the team with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown while Mark Nwakamma and Clayton Brothers, who was playing in front of a large hometown crowd, each finished with 10. Nwakamma and Cole each collected career-bests in rebounding with nine and six boards, respectively.
The opening minutes of the contest saw lead change hands several times however the Hawks rattled off eight unanswered points, sparked by Nwakamma's old-fashion three-point play and capped by a long trey by Cole to go ahead of the Explorers, 17-13, with 10:27 to play. Hartford quickly saw its advantage disappear as La Salle went off for a 17-0 run, which included seven-straight points by Galloway, over a span of eight minutes to regain the lead for good at 30-17.
Oren Faulk ended the Hawks' scoring drought with a pair of free throws with 1:52 to play and following La Salle's sixth three-pointer of the half, Nate Sikma's first bucket of the afternoon sent the Hawks into the halftime break facing a 12 point deficit.
Out of the break, Brothers brought the Hawks within eight at 33-25 on back-to-back lay-ups but the Explorers were quick to retake a double digit lead with 18:46 remaining. Following another three-point play by Nwakamma, La Salle pushed ahead at 43-28 with 16:46 and went on to take a 20-point lead with 12:13 left in the contest.
La Salle took its largest lead of the game at 22 mid-way through the final half, but with a 10-0 run over the span of just 94 seconds, the Hawks managed to come within 12 points of the Explorers at 57-45. Hartford was unable to close the gap to single digits and La Salle put the game away over the final eight minutes of play.
Hartford committed 24 turnovers which translated into 32 points for the Explorers. The Hawks finished the game shooting 43.5-percent (20-of-46) while La Salle made over 50-percent of its shots (29-of-57).
