BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore Nate Sikma had the Hawks' first seven points, but his final basket of the game was the most important, as his three-pointer with less than 90 seconds remaining provided enough cushion for the University of Hartford men's basketball team to end an 11-year losing skid at Boston University and come away with a 77-74 victory at Case Gym on Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks, who are now 2-0 in America East Conference play, were paced by four sophomores who combined for 67 points on the afternoon. Wes Cole led all scorers after pouring in a season-high 22 points while Sikma, the America East Player of the Game for Hartford, added 19. Cole was 7-of-15 overall, accounting for six of the Hawks' season-best 14 three-pointers.

Mark Nwakamma and Yolonzo Moore II rounded out the top scorers with 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the win which was the first against the Terriers in Bean Town since Jan. 29, 2002, a 10-game stretch.

Down by eight with just under 15 minutes ago, the Hawks went on a 10-3 run to tie up the game at 57-57 and went on to score nine of the next 15 points to move ahead by three at 66-63.

A pair of free throws by Dom Morris made it a one point game before a 7-0 Hartford run pushed the visiting team ahead, 73-65, with just under one minute remaining. Nwakamma sparked that rally with a layup at 2:17 before Sikma's final three pointer of the afternoon put the game away with 1:27 to go.

The Hawks went on to sink their last six free throw attempts, finishing at 17-of-17 for the game, to keep their distance from the Terriers who scored seven of the game's final nine points.

Winners of four of its last five, Hartford improves to 9-6 on the year, its best 15-game start in 16 years (1996-97) while BU drops to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in the league.

A slow start plagued the Hawks out of the gates but Sikma got things going for his team. His third field goal of the afternoon, a three-pointer, with 14:22 to go ended a 6-0 BU run and cut his team's deficit to two at 9-7.

The Hawks continued to claw back and outscored the Terriers, 11-7, to take their first lead of the game with 11:34 remaining in the first half. Sikma and Cole combined for four threes during that stretch to help fuel Hartford's comeback bid. Sikma's second three-ball of that rally knotted up the score at 15-15 before Cole made it 18-15 after drilling his second from downtown.

The teams continued to exchange runs as Morris regained the lead for BU at 20-18. Cole, however, took charge and connected on back-to-back threes to put the lead back in Hartford's hands with at the 6:12 mark. The next run proved to be the most detrimental, though, as the Terriers scored 10 unanswered points to erase the Hawks' largest lead of the half and move ahead by six points at 32-26 with 3:13 left.

In the closing minutes, Moore and Wroe hit a pair of threes for the Hawks, but the visiting squad was unable to reclaim a lead before halftime as the Terriers scored six of the last nine points of the stanza to take a 38-21 advantage into the locker rooms.

Both teams exchanged a flurry of buckets to start the second andHartford was unable to cut into its deficit as it fell behind by eight points with 11:32 left after Terriers' layups by Watson and Justin Alston on back-to-back possessions.

The tables turned for the Hawks, though, as they again got their offense going by turning up the defensive pressure. Three-straight defensive stops translated into eight unanswered points for the Hawks and forced the fourth tie of the game with 9:21 remaining in regulation. Cole's sixth three started the spurt, which was capped by another three-ball, this time by Moore, to bring Hartford back in the game at 57-57. 

A pair of free throws by Irving put BU ahead, 63-61, with just under five minutes remaining but that would be the last lead of the game for the home team as Sikma made two shots from the charity stripe and Nwakamma scored the go-ahead bucket with 2:52 to go.

BU was led by D.J. Irving, who scored 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting and had six assists to go along with six steals. John Papale added 14 points while Maruice Watson Jr. shot 50 percent to finish with 13 points.

Hartford dominated the boards, 32-20, led by eight by Sikma. The Hawks had 10 offensive rebounds, scoring 10 second chance points on the afternoon.

After shooting 52.4 percent (11-of-21) in the first half, Hartford went on to shoot 44.4 percent (12-of-27) in the second and finished just under the 50 percent mark at 47.9 percent. The Hawks made all 17 of their free throw attempts and were 46.7 percent (14-of-30) from three.

Conference play continues for the Hawks on Wed., Jan. 9 when the Maine Black Bears visit the Chase Family Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Tickets are still available for the game which has been tabbed Educational Field Trip Day with a 12:00 p.m. tip.