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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – For the second-straight season, and the third time since 2008, the University of Hartford men's basketball team earned a trip to the semifinal round of the America East Championships after upending the No. 3 Boston University Terriers, 53-49, in front of a crowd of 2,562 at the Chase Family Pavilion at the Reich Family Pavilion on Saturday evening.
The Hawks (9-21) had to erase a five point deficit late in teh game to punch their ticket to the next round where they will meet up with the second-seeded Vermont Catamounts on Sunday evening with tip-off slated for approximately 7:15 p.m.
Hartford, which became the fifth-straight team to earn a win as the sixth seed in the quarterfinals, got huge production from its trio of freshmen starters who combined for 36 points and 24 rebounds en route to the win. Highlighting the rookies' performances was power forward Mark Nwakamma who notched his first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds – the most of any Hawk all season.
Nate Sikma contributed 16 points to Hartford's offense and snagged seven rebounds while veteran point guard Andres Torres notched 12 tallies while adding a game-best five assists to that number.
With the score tied at four points each, Hartford broke the game open with an 8-2 run, which included treys by Sikma and Torres, to claim a six point lead at 12-6 with 13:02 remaining before the Terriers followed suit with eight unanswered points to push ahead by two at 14-12.
Hartford enjoyed a 6-0 spurt and reclaimed its lead at 18-14 but Boston University went on to score the next nine points to move ahead by five points with 4:18. Torres stopped the Terriers' run with a deep three-pointer however unfortunately for the Hawks, that would be their last bucket of the stanza as Boston University went on to end the half with four-straight free throws take a 27-21 advantage into the locker rooms.
The Hawks, who struggled to find their stroke in the first 20 minutes as they combined to shoot 7-of-24 (29.2 percent) from the floor, turned things around in the second half with a clip of 52.4 percent (11-21). Hartford would go on to finish the game shooting 40.0 percent while holding Boston University to a clip of 32.1 percent.
Out of the intermission, Hartford closed the gap within the opening minutes with an 11-4 run, fueled by six points by Nwakamma, to take a 32-31 lead with 17:24 left. The Terriers countered however and pushed their lead back to five points at 43-38 with 6:15 to go in regulation.
After Yolonzo Moore II, a freshman who scored seven points on the evening, drained a three pointer to make it a two point game, the Terriers re-extended their lead to four points with 4:37 to go.
The Hawks clawed back as Sikma buried a pair of clutch three-pointers to tie up contest up at 47 points apiece with just over two minutes left in the game.
Nwakamma came up huge again for the Hawks when he converted on a three-point play at the 1:41 mark to provide Hartford with a 50-49 lead, one it would not relinquish. Down the stretch, Boston University came up empty on four possessions, missing two shots while turning the ball over three times during the final minutes.
Boston University, which closed out its season with a mark of 16-16, was led by Darryl Partin and D.J. Irving, who netted 17 and 12 points, respectively.
