WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The Hartford men's basketball team picked up their first Conference of New England (CNE) win of the year defeating Wentworth Institute of Technology by a 80-56 final on Wednesday night. 

Rapid Recap:

• The Hawks jumped ahead quickly after back-to-back triples by junior Drew Stack (Madison, N.J.) and sophomore Jaylen Brown (Baldwin, N.Y.). The lead jumped even further to 18-5 early with a thunderous dunk by sophomore Joshua Petion (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and a jumper from sophomore Kaosi Chijioke (Atlanta, Ga.). Another 9-2 spurt capped off by a three from freshman Reggie Selden (Franklinville, N.J.) had the Hawks cruising up 31-13. The Leopards battled back with a 8-0 run stopped by a finish by Chijioke. The teams would trade buckets, but a quick six-point closing run by the visitors cut the deficit to just 40-33 headed into halftime. 
• The Hawks again used a run to get started in the second half scoring nine-straight ended by a jumper from Stack. Freshman Troy Santos (Taunton, Mass.) knocked down a huge three with 13:38 to play with the lead at 54-41. Chijioke would quickly kick start another run as this time the Hawks would score seven in a row ending with another logo triple by Santos as the lead ballooned to 61-42. The Hawks maintained the lead comfortably the rest of the way winning by a 80-56 margin. 

Post Game Press:
"Great team win tonight", said sophomore Kaosi Chijioke (Atlanta, Ga.). "We were able to play as a team and to each other's strengths. It is credit to my work to make the shots I take. I try to really work on everything and God really helps me like with a really big game today."

"The big thing we did tonight was hold the opponent to 56 points", said head coach Aaron Toomey. "We scored 80 and hit a lot of shots, but the defensive side is what won it tonight. Wentworth played zone tonight so our goal was to play inside out and we got a lot of touches for Kaosi inside and he took advantage of that in the high post area, but he also took advantage of us getting outside looks today. We moved the ball well and got good shots as a result."

Inside the Numbers:

• Chijioke had a stellar game netting a new career-high 25 points (10-16 FG, 1-1 3PT, 4-4 FT), six rebounds and a block. Santos tallied 13 points (5-8 FG, 3-4 3PT), nine assists and a pair of rebounds. Brown registered 12 points (4-8 FG, 4-7 3PT), five rebounds and two assists. Petion added 10 points (5-7 FG, 0-3 FT), five steals, four rebounds and three assists in the win. 
• Jack Connell led the Leopards with 17 points (6-16 FG, 2-7 3PT, 3-4 FT) and five assists. Russell Dolabany added 11 points (4-9 FG, 0-4 3PT, 3-6 FT) and four rebounds.  
• The Hawks were scorching from deep going 12-21 (57.1%) from behind the arc in the contest while also getting 19 points coming off of turnovers in the win. 

Up Next: 
The Hawks will be on winter break for the holidays and will be in action next on December 30th when they host Nazareth University. 

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