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ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team fell on the road at the University at Albany on Saturday night, dropping a 75-49 decision at SEFCU Arena. The Hawks return to the Chase Family Arena for their next game on Wednesday to host the New Hampshire Wildcats at 7:00 p.m.

Sophomore Mark Nwakamma led Hartford (14-12, 7-6 AE) in scoring with 12 points despite seeing limited action, especially in the first half, with foul trouble. Classmates Nate Sikma and Corban Wroe rounded out the Hawks' points leaders with 10 and eight, respectively.

Led by 18 points and four three-pointers from Jacob Iati, UAlbany (19-8, 8-5 AE) came out of the gates hot, drilling 10 of its first 13 shots to build a double digit lead midway through the half. The Great Danes remained sizzling throughout the rest of the stanza and pushed ahead by 20 before the break after shooting an impressive 70.0% (14-of-20) from the floor.

Sikma, who scored the first bucket of the game, cut an early 9-2 deficit to five points with a deep three-pointer at the 16:58 mark, but the Great Danes responded with another run of seven unanswered points to extend its advantage into double digits at 16-5 with 14:58 to go.

Hartford, though, came alive six minutes into the game and brought its 11 point deficit down to just five within a 96 second span.

Graduate student John Peterson, who finished with seven points, got the scoring going, making each of his three attempts from the charity stripe after getting fouled from outside the three-point line. Following a UAlbany jumper from DJ Evans, the Hawks rattled off a 7-0 run using a pair of layups from Corban Wroe and a deep three from Sikma to close the gap to 18-15.

The Hawks, who shot just 26.1% to start including 20.0% from downtown, would not come any closer, though, as the Great Danes' hot shooting continued. UAlbany netted the next seven points, with its fourth made triple in five attempts capping-off the rally while making it a 25-15 ball game in favor of the home team.

From there, the Great Danes' lead grew to 37-16 with 2:22 to go in the period following a 12-1 spurt. In the final two minutes, there was an exchange of triples between Hartford's Parker U'u and UAlbany's Jayson Guerrier, and a Peterson free throw in the closing seconds made it 40-20 heading into the intermission.

In the second half, the Hawks scored nine of the first 16 points to open up, bringing their deficit down to 15 points. The game quickly moved beyond reach for Hartford, however, as the Great Danes converted on their first four attempts from beyond the arc, where they made 10-of-16 (62.5%) for the night, to extend its lead to 22 with 11:59 to go.

The battle of the boards belonged to the Great Danes who finished with a 34-27 advantage. UAlbany's shooting cooled down in the final minutes as it finished at 55.3% (26-of-47) on the evening after going 44.4% (12-of-27) from the floor in the second.

The Hawks made seven of its 32 attempts from three-point land (21.9%) and combined to shoot 31.5% (17-of-54) overall, matching a season-low. Just 22 of Hartford's 54 shots came from inside of the arc, where it converted on 10 of its opportunities.