BOSTON, Mass. - The Hartford men's basketball team dropped a Conference of New England (CNE) contest on Saturday falling to Wentworth Institute of Technology by a 72-65 margin. 

Rapid Recap:

• The Leopards led early 6-2 on a pair of three-pointers by Jack Connell, but the Hawks battled right back with an impressive 12-0 run with a pair of layups for sophomore Joshua Petion (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and a pair of trifectas for junior Drew Stack (Madison, N.J.). Wentworth would net back-to-back threes of their own as the lead was cut to 14-12 in favor of the Hawks with 13:32 to play in the first half. The Leopards would gain control back leading 21-17, but sophomore Jaylen Brown (Baldwin, N.Y.) would drill a three of his own to keep Hartford within a point. Another shot from deep for Brown tied the game at 27-27 with 5:07 to play in the half. Brown continued his flurry of scoring with his third and fourth three of the first half to give Hartford a 33-27 lead. Freshman Troy Santos (Taunton, Mass.) netted a three of his own followed by a layup for freshman Chidera George (Atlanta, Ga.) as the Hawks took a 38-29 lead into the break. 
• The Hawks held a 40-33 lead after a bucket for sophomore Kaosi Chijioke (Atlanta, Ga.), quickly followed by a three for Stack as the lead hit double-digits. Wentworth would come all the way back with an 8-0 run to cut the Hawk lead to two points. Both teams would trade buckets over the next couple of minutes, with the Leopards earning a 52-47 lead with 10:46 to play. A Chijioke bucket followed by a three for freshman Reggie Selden (Franklinville, N.J.) tied the ballgame up once again. The teams traded baskets with a pair of huge threes for Connell pushing the Wentworth lead to 66-57 with 2:33 to play. Santos drilled the three on the other end to kick start a 7-0 run capped off by a Stack jumper as the lead was trimmed to 66-63 with 55 seconds to play. The Leopards would answer with another huge bucket for Connell draining a three-pointer. After late game free throws the Leopards would eventually win by a 72-65 margin. 

Inside the Numbers:

• Chijioke led the offense for the Hawks with 17 points (6-16 FG, 0-1 3PT, 5-6 FT) to go with nine rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. Brown followed with 13 points (4-9 FG, 4-8 3PT, 1-3 FT), four rebounds and two steals. Stack registered 11 points (4-15 FG, 3-14 3PT), two assists and two steals, while Santos added 10 points (4-9 FG, 2-5 3PT) and four assists. 
• Connell paced the Leopards with 33 points (12-20 FG, 7-10 3PT, 2-2 FT) to go with four assists and four rebounds. Niko Rosich added 13 points (5-9 FG, 3-4 3PT) and three boards. 
• The Hawks tallied 22 points off of turnovers compared to just six for the Leopards. Wentworth was red hot in the second half going 25-53 from the floor (47.2%) and 7-11 from behind the three-point arc (63.6%), while the Hawks finished the final 20 minutes 10-32 from the floor (31.3%) and 3-15 from three (20.0%). 

Up Next:
The Hawks will stay on the road to take on Roger Williams University on February 11th with a 7:30 PM tip. 

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