BOX SCORE
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team scored its fourth-straight win with a 67-51 defeat of the Saint Peter's Peacocks in Sears ESPN BracketBusters action at the Yanitelli Center on Saturday afternoon. With their longest win streak since the 2007-08 campaign, the Hawks improve their overall record to 8-19.
Five players shot over 50 percent to lead the Hawks to an impressive 61.9 percent (26-of-42) effort from the floor, a season-best shooting performance. Freshman Mark Nwakamma paced the offense with 18 points, missing just one shot in nine attempts to match a career-high, while senior Andres Torres tallied 13 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds. Classmate Clayton Brothers also finished in double figures with 10 points.
Hartford came out of the gates hot, jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead in the opening minute on buckets by Yolonzo Moore II and Brothers. The Peacocks were quick to respond and knotted up the contest before the Hawks broke ahead 9-4 with 15:05 remaining thanks to a deep three by Torres and a lay-up by Nwakamma.
The Peacocks continued to hang around as they went off for four more quick points but Hartford put up five more of its own to push ahead at 14-8 with 11:56 to go.
Saint Peter's retaliated again, using a 7-0 run over a 90 second span to charge ahead with its first lead of the game at 15-14 mid-way through the stanza. Saint Peter's would not do any more damage despite the Hawks' scoring drought continuing for more than five mintes.
The cold shooting and offensive miscues would quickly change for the Hawks however as they stormed back with a 9-2 rally to reclaim the lead at 23-17 with 4:34 to go in the period. Torres, who scored the first four in that stretch, sparked the rally and Moore provided the final five to push Hartford ahead.
The Hawks would go on to narrowly outscore the Peacocks 10-8 down the stretch to move ahead by nine, their largest advantage of the period, and provide the halftime score of 33-24.
Hartford, which outrebounded its opponents 13-8 in the opening stanza, matched a season-high first half effort from the floor, shooting 66.7 percent (14-of-21). Torres missed just one of his five shots to finish with a team-best 10 in the first 20 minutes.
The hot shooting continued for Hartford in the second half as it converted on 57.1 percent (12-of-21) of its shots while holding Saint Peter's to a 36.0 percent clip in that stanza. The Peacocks finished the game shooting just over the 40 percent mark (41.7%).
Saint Peter's scored first to start the second half, but four straight by Hartford would open the gap up to 11 points at 38-27. The Hawks would then use a 6-0 run to make the score 46-31 at the midway point of the half. Saint Peter's managed to put together an 8-2 run to get its deficit down to 48-39 with 8:13 to play, but five unanswered points by the Hawks would rebuild the lead to 14. Hartford would maintain its double digit cushion for the remainder of the game.
Hartford doubled Saint Peter's 17 rebounds but committed 21 turnovers to the Peacocks' 12.
After dishing out his fifth assist, Torres passed former teammate Jaret von Rosenberg on the all-time assists list. The senior is now third in Hartford history with 312 helpers.
With the season winding down, the Hawks return home to play host to league foe Stony Brook on Tuesday for their final regular season game at Chase Arena. Prior to the 7:00 p.m. tip-off, four members of Hartford's senior class will be honored with a pre-game ceremony. Tuesday's game will be televised live on CPTV Sports with John Holt and Randy LaVigne on the call.
