MILTON, Mass.  - The Hartford men's basketball team dropped a Conference of New England (CNE) contest on Wednesday falling to Curry College by a 70-68 final. 

Rapid Recap:

• The Colonels jumped ahead 13-3 over the first five minutes. The Hawks would score the next six points highlighted by a three for freshman Ben Miller (Milford, Conn.). Junior Kaosi Chijioke (Suwanee, Ga.) would score four more points for Hartford as the deficit was cut to 17-15. Curry responded with a 10-4 run to keep the momentum of the game. Junior Leonard Pelzer (Berlin, Germany) had a tough paint finish followed by a triple for senior Drew Stack (Madison, N.J.) as the Colonel lead was cut to just five points, but Curry would take a 36-30 lead into the break. 
• After the Colonels kicked off scoring with a layup, Hartford would respond with the next five points after a Chijioke layup and a three-pointer for junior Kyle Winters (Corte Madera, Calif.). The teams would trade free throws with Curry holding a 41-37 lead with 12:54 to play. Curry continued to hold the advantage pushing the lead to 47-37 with 11 minutes left. The teams continued to trade baskets with the home team holding a 11 point lead with now just 7:14 left. Miller tried to get the Hawks back into it with a five-point flurry, sophomore Cooper Galdenzi (Clinton, Conn.) would add a three-pointer as the lead was down to four points with 5:49 to play. The teams would trade buckets and after a Miller trifecta the Colonel lead was 65-59 with 3:14 to play. Miller was unconscious down the stretch scoring seven points in the final three minutes to tie the game at 68-68 with 27 seconds on the clock. Curry would win at the buzzer on a tip-in layup to win 70-68. 

Inside The Numbers:

• Miller poured in a career-high 22 points (8-19 FG, 4-11 3PT, 2-5 FT) to go with four steals. Chijioke tallied nine points (3-9 FG, 0-3 3PT, 3-4 FT), 10 rebounds and two steals. Petion added seven points (3-9 FG, 0-1 3PT, 1-4 FT), six rebounds and three steals in the loss. 
• Jake Bernado led the Colonels with 17 points (7-10 FG, 3-5 FT) including the game-winner and six boards. Jeremiah Predin added 15 points (7-12 FG, 1-3 3PT, 0-4 FT), 10 rebounds and four assists. 
• Curry held a 38-26 points in the paint advantage in the win. Hartford held a 37-18 bench points advantage in the loss. 

Up Next:
The Hawks will travel to Nichols College on Saturday for a game against the Bison starting at 3:00 PM. 

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