THE BASICS:

RESULT: No. 3 UAlbany 100, No. 6 Hartford 71
LOCATION: SEFCU Arena (Albany, N.Y.)
ATTENDANCE: 1,693
RECORDS: Hartford (9-23, 4-12 America East); UAlbany (20-12, 10-6)

PHOTO GALLERY

THE LEAD:
Led by David Nichols (school-record tying 40 points), the UAlbany men's basketball team got out to a fast start and never looked back in a 100-71 victory over Hartford in the opening round of the America East Tournament. The Hawks finish the 2016-17 campaign with a 9-23 record, while the Great Danes move on to face Stony Brook in the second round.
 
Nichols, whose sister passed away from leukemia on Saturday, hit four early threes on his way to 22 first-half points, and his teammates rallied behind him. The Great Danes went 20-for-29 (.690) from the floor in the opening half. Joe Cremo delivered a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists, finishing as the only UAlbany player in double figures other than Nichols.
 
The Hawks were led by Jalen Ross, who netted 22 points in his final collegiate contest. That gave him 576 points for the season, a total which ranks him fifth among all Hartford players. Jason Dunne added 20 points in a losing effort for the Hawks, while Andrew Ramirez added eight points as well.

FIRST HALF:
Early on, the Great Danes controlled the play, in particular Nichols, who matched his career high in three-pointers made in the first four minutes of the game. The sophomore hit his first four shots from distance and scored 16 of UAlbany's first 26 points as the home squad earned a 33-7 lead on the strength of 12-for-15 shooting from the floor.
 
The Hawks started to chip away in the second part of the opening stanza, getting a run with Ross nailing a three and J.R. Lynch hitting a nice jumper in the lane. But the Great Danes were able to match the visitors for every opportunity, and held them at bay with a 51-25 halftime lead.
 
SECOND HALF:
Nichols kept rolling after the break, hitting three early triples to give him a career high in points before the under-16 timeout. The Hawks offense got a clutch steal and three from Andrew Ramirez, and some nice inside play from George Blagojevic and Dunne, but Nichols kept the Great Danes offense going on the way to a 70-40 lead at the 10:56 mark.
 
The Hawks came out with a run on the strength of Ramirez, who converted a three-point play, then had a steal lead to a bucket in transition. But the deficit proved too much to overcome, as the Great Danes staved off the comeback efforts from the visitors en route to the victory.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Ross scored in double figures in 31 of the 32 games on the season and 42 of his last 43 games as a college basketball player. He finished his collegiate career with 1,112 points over his time at both Eastern Michigan and Hartford and 912 points in his time with the Hawks.
• The contest marked Ross' 12^th game with at least 20 points this season. For Dunne it marked his seventh game with at least 20.
• Dunne finished the season with 22 games in double figures, including each of his last six. He posted 426 points for the season, nearly four times as many as the 119 he scored in his freshman campaign.
• Hartford will return the bulk of its roster for the 2017-18 season, with Ross the only senior on the squad. Jack Hobbs and Hassan Attia will key the senior class, with the junior group featuring seven regulars from this campaign. Signees Luka Vasic, Jalen Knight and Bane Terzic will join the Hawks as freshmen next year.