POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.  - The Hartford men's basketball team picked up its second win of the 2025-26 season on Friday night defeating Colby-Sawyer College 86-66 in the first game of the Vassar College Tip-Off Tournament.  

Rapid Recap:

• Hartford started off the game red hot going on a 18-1 run in the first six and a half minutes. 12 of the 18 points came from triples as senior Drew Stack (Madison, N.J.) netted three early threes. The fourth Stack trifecta would come with 6:43 remaining in the first half as the lead hit 24 points with the score at 31-7. Sophomore Cooper Galdenzi (Clinton, Conn.) made a good impression off the bench scoring five points in the first half as Hartford cruised to a 41-17 lead into the break. 
• The teams traded baskets to start the second half with the Hawks retaining a 47-24 lead after four minutes. The Chargers had their best minutes of the night chipping the lead down to 19 with 13:15 remaining, but the Hawks would counter with a 9-2 counter to push the lead back to 58-32. The lead would hover around 30 points for the remaining of the second half, Colby-Sawyer would cut the lead to 20 as the game ended with a Hartford 86-66 win. 

Post Game Press:
"Limiting Colby-Sawyer to one shot and minimal paint touches in the first half really helped us get out to an early lead and our offense maintained it the rest of the game", said senior Drew Stack (Madison, N.J.). 

Inside The Numbers:

• Stack led the offensive output with 14 points (5-10 FG, 4-9 3PT) in just 21 minutes with two blocks and a steal. Junior Kyle Winters (Corte Madera, Calif.) registered 14 points (6-11 FG, 2-3 3PT), four assists, four rebounds and a steal. Galdenzi tallied 11 points (4-8 FG, 3-6 3PT) and two rebounds off the bench, while junior Joshua Petion (Brooklyn, N.Y.) stuffed the stat sheet with seven points (3-7 FG, 1-2 FT), six rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. 
• Elijah Thomas led the Chargers with 13 points (6-10 FG, 1-2 FT), eight rebounds and five blocks. Tobey Bellows added 10 points (4-13 FG, 0-4 3PT, 2-2 FT) in the loss. 
• Hartford hit 12 three pointers in the win shooting 42.9% from behind the arc, while Colby-Sawyer struggled just going 2-11 from three for a 18.2%. 

Up Next:
The Hawks will take on the winner of Vassar College and SUNY Geneseo at 4:00 PM on Saturday.

For the latest information on Hartford Athletics follow the Hawks on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube.