PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team, playing their third game in five days, had their two-game winning streak snapped with the 73-63 loss to Johnson and Wales Thursday.
The Hawks stayed close over the first 20 minutes, but a 17-7 run in the opening moments of the second half provided the host Johnson and Wales team a double-figure lead.
Hartford was forced to play most of the game without leading scorer and rebounder, freshman
Stephen Akwiwu. The forward went out six minutes into the game and didn't return.
Johnson and Wales scored 11 of the first 13 points and the Hawks never led or tied the game. Hartford made several spurts, but couldn't quite get over the hump. Following a pair of free throws by freshman
Henry Herman, the Hawks trailed by just a single point. It was a quick response by the home team, and the UH deficit was back to 10.
However, graduate student
Trayon Rumley sparked a 9-0 run with back-to-back three-pointers to pull Hartford to within one. The Wildcats scored the last two buckets of the half for the five-point halftime lead.
Herman finished with a career-high 19 points with five rebounds and four assists, while Rumley added 15 points, seven rebounds, and two assists.
Freshman Josh Petion finished with 12 points, while freshman
Kaosi Chijioke pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
INSIDE THE BOX & NOTES
- Fifth time this season at least three players have scored double figures.
- Freshman Ezekiel Johnson played his first minutes in nearly a month. The guard last appeared in a game on November 12 against Trinity.
- Hartford falls to 0-2 against the GNAC.
- Five players played at least 20 minutes with Herman on the court for a career-high 40 minutes. Petion played a career-high 38 minutes, while Chijioke finished with a career-high 34 minutes played.
WHAT'S NEXT
Hartford (4-4 overall) has a 10-day layoff before traveling to play Division I Stonehill Sunday, December 17.
