BOX SCORE
ALBANY, N.Y. – In the opening night of America East Conference play, the University of Hartford men's basketball team suffered an 88-63 loss to the University at Albany Great Danes on Monday evening at SEFCU Arena.
Gerardo Suero, a junior guard, netted a game-best 24 points for UAlbany (9-6, 1-0 AE) with his 11th 20-plus scoring game of the season while senior Andres Torres led Hartford (0-13, 0-1 AE) with 13 points. Freshmen Wes Cole and Yolonzo Moore II rounded out the Hawks' top-scorers with 12 and 11 tallies, respectively.
The Great Danes never let up after building a 12-point halftime advantage and went on to take a 21-point lead over the Hawks mid-way through the second half. UAlbany continued to open up the game and took its largest lead at 28 during the closing seconds of the contest.
Both teams started out cold from the outside as they combined to shoot 0-for-6 from three-point land in the opening minutes. With the score at 10-6 in favor of the Great Danes at the 13:55 mark, UAlbany started to heat up on a long three-pointer by Mike Black. Following a Hawks' lay-up by Jamie Schneck, the Great Danes put together a 7-0 run that included another trey by Black and was capped by a long two by Logan Aronhalt to move ahead of the Hawks, 20-8.
UAlbany went on to build its lead to 17 points, its largest of the stanza, by outscoring Hartford 11-6 over a span of three minutes to push the score ahead to 31-14 with 8:07 to play in the first.
Wes Cole kept the Hawks within reach during the final minutes of the opening stanza. After drilling the team's first three-pointer at the 8:34 mark, the rookie again hit nothing but net from downtown just one minute later. Following a lay-up by Mark Nwakamma, Cole's third three of the half capped a Hartford 8-0 run, its largest of the game, and closed the gap to single digits at nine points at 5:56.
Four quick points for UAlbany would again extend the home team's lead to double figures at 12. Hartford would enter the halftime break facing that same deficit at 40-28.
Eleven of Torres' 13 points came in the final period, including eight of the Hawks' first 10 points to help bring Hartford within 11 at the 16:37 mark. Hartford could not come any closer to UAlbany, which locked down and quickly put the game out of reach at 60-42 with 12:07 to play.
UAlbany had 15 first half points off of Hartford's nine turnovers and went on to close out the game with 25 points off of Hawks' miscues. The Great Danes bettered the Hawks in rebounds by a margin of 46-28 and shot 55.9-percent (33-of-59) for the game while holding their opposition to a clip of 37.7-percent (23-of-61).
The Hawks return to The Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion for the first time since Dec. 10 when they play host to the New Hampshire Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for that contest are still available and can be purchased by calling 860-768-HAWK, online at www.hartfordhawkstickets.com, or by visiting the Malcolm and Brenda Berman Athletics Box Office.
