WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Hartford men's basketball hosted Conference of New England (CNE) opponent Johnson and Wales University, and stormed back from a 12-point deficit to pick up a senior day victory by the score of 75-73.

Rapid Recap:

• Both teams came out of the gate swinging, exchanging blows early on. Junior forward Joshua Petion (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led the way early for the Hawks, establishing himself in the paint on both ends of the floor with both boards and buckets. As for JWU, the duo of Alvin Baez and Azariah Harrison took over in the first half, building a strong lead for the Wildcats. Freshman guard Ben Miller (Milford, Conn.),  junior guard Kyle Winters (Corte Madera, Calif.) and senior guard Drew Stack (Madison, N.J.) kept Hartford in it, sending home crucial threes to minimize the deficit for the Hawks. Hartford struggled to get out of their own way early, committing 10 turnovers which lead to 11 JWU points in the first 20 minutes of play. After shooting at a 48.5% clip, JWU went back to the locker room with an eight point lead over the Hawks.
• Hartford came back to the floor for the second half with a spirited effort, quickly shrinking the Wildcats lead to just four points thanks to the play of junior center Kaosi Chijioke (Suwanee, Ga.). The momentum would not stay with Hartford for long however, as in the blink of an eye, JWU began to pull away, mounting a 12 point edge, the largest lead of the game to bring the score to 57-45. The Hawks would not go down without a fight though, as junior guard Zach Skinner (Berlin, Conn.) and Miller turned the game on its head, as the led a 14-0 Hartford run to tilt the scales in the Hawks favor making the score 59-57. With just under five minutes on the game clock, Hartford began to run the clock, hitting crucial free throws and sealing the deal on the miraculous comeback.

Post Game Press:
"We knew that this was a game that we could win, we just had to lock in," said junior Joshua Petion (Brooklyn, N.Y.). "Going into halftime, Vin Baker came into the locker room to speak to us, it was very motivational having a legend willing to come in and push us to do what we needed to do and we obviously listened to him and got the W. I try to take on every role when it comes to rebounding, and I take big pride on being a defensive player of the year in this conference and it is just something we are always working on, our defense is our offense. This is a very big win, being here for the last two years during the transition, this is the year where those days are behind us and this the year we take everything home and go dancing in March."

"It was an interesting win today, I thought we played poorly in the first half but we brought the urgency and the group of five that were able to flip the switch for us heading into the second," said Head Coach Aaron Toomey. "Zach Skinner plays a tough role for this group with limited minutes but when he goes in its high expectations for what he can bring. Today was a perfect example of that where he was massive part of the comeback and the win, I give him a lot of credit. Every win is massive at this point, we know every single one carries a lot of weight, so no matter how we get it the wins are important."

Inside the Numbers:

• Petion was the Hawks leading scorer, posting 21 points (7-8 FG, 0-0 3PT, 7-10 FT) followed by Miller's 11 (5-9 FG, 1-3 3PT, 0-0 FT). 
• As for JWU, Baez led the way with 28 points (12-26 FG, 0-4 3PT, 4-4 FT). He was followed by Harrison who had 23 (8-17 FG, 5-12 3PT, 2-2 FT).
• In his 11 minutes of playing time, Skinner jump started the Hartford comeback, posting a +13 +/-. He picked up 4 points (2-2 FG, 0-0 3PT, 0-0 FT), 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
• Johnson and Wales led for just over 66% of this match-up, leading for 26:51 as compared to Hartfords 10:49.

Up Next:
Next time out, the Hawks will hit the road to Boston, Massachusetts as they travel to face off against CNE opponent Suffolk University on Tuesday, February 3rd. Tip off is slated for 7:30 PM.

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