Score: Elmira College 94, Pennsylvania College of Technology 69
Records: Elmira (1-1), Penn College (0-2)
Location: Speidel Gymnasium -- Elmira, N.Y.
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's basketball team used a balanced attack to post 94 points on the Pennsylvania College of Technology on Tuesday night inside Speidel Gymnasium, where the Soaring Eagles secured their first win of the 2018-19 season, 94-69.
Six different Soaring Eagles logged double-digit points, while 11 players scored at least three points for the Purple and Gold. Leading the charge with his second career double-double was sophomore forward Shawn Backus '21, who netted 15 points with 13 boards. Henry Cuffee '19 scored 12 points, Jeremy Every '20 and Isiah Charles '21 each posted 11, and Justin Porrett '19 and Jesse Adelson'20 both recorded 10 to round out EC's double-digit scorers.
The first three-and-a-half minutes of action favored the visiting Wildcats, who broke a 4-all tie with a Ben Sosa 3-pointer to start a 6-0 run. Down 10-4, a Cuffee and-one and six consecutive points from Backus put the Purple and Gold ahead for the first time. Both sides traded ties and small leads until late in the half when the Soaring Eagles turned a narrow 26-25 deficit into a 15-point cushion with 16 unanswered points.
Six of the 16 points in the momentum-shifting rally came off the hands of Adelson, who buried two of his three 3-pointers before the half. Leading 36-26 following the first Adelson triple, Anthony Abate '19 made a clutch steal under the basket on the ensuing inbounds pass and scored an easy two points of his own. Rookie Kyle Kokoskie '22 then forced a turnover with three-and-a-half minutes before halftime, leading to another Adelson trey, which gave Elmira a 41-26 advantage.
EC entered the intermission with a 45-34 lead. Successful and-ones converted by Cuffee and Porrett in the second half helped the Soaring Eagles widen the gap to 18 points, 59-41, just 5:05 into the period. Nine of the next 11 EC points came from behind the arc, with treys coming from Adelson, Every, and a corner jumper from Kyle McCreery '20.
Defensive pressure continued to lead to points for Elmira in the second half. A Porrett steal led to an Every fast-break lay-in on the other end, and Penn College's next possession ended with a McCreery steal that resulted in two points for Porrett, which had the Soaring Eagles leading by a comfortable 77-43 margin.
Highlights continued to come inside the final five minutes, this time from freshman forward Matt Amoddio '22. The 6-foot-7-inch rookie knocked down an unlikely 3-pointer before coming up with a steal on the next Wildcat possession.
In His Own Words…
Head Coach Randie Torgalski shares his thoughts on tonight's win…
"Wins are good. The great Nuke LaLoosh once said, 'I love winning! I love winning! It's like better than losing!' The boys had two really good practices the last two days in preparation for tonight. I thought we tried too hard early on, but once we allowed the game to come to us we started making positive plays, and we received positive plays from a lot of guys. It really showed our strength in numbers mentally tonight."
Coach Torgalski reflects on how balanced scoring aided in tonight's victory…
"We need the balance. With our style and our depth, we need to use that to our advantage. The more options to score, the tougher we are to defend. And we can keep coming in waves then too. Our guys off of the bench carried us in the first half, along with Backus."
News and Notes
- The Soaring Eagles evened their record at 1-1 with their first win of the year.
- Elmira's bench produced 46 of EC's 94 points.
- EC's 17 team steals are the most the program has recorded since November 18, 2006, when Elmira created 20 steals against D'Youville.
- The Soaring Eagles have shot 50.7-percent from the field in back-to-back games.
- Backus' 13 rebounds are a career high.
- Backus logged his second career double-double.
- Porrett's six steals were a career high.
- Porrett logged the sixth double-double of his EC career.
- The 11 points by Charles were a career best.
Up Next
The Soaring Eagles return to action this Friday, November 16, when they travel to take on Oswego State in the Max Ziel Tournament, hosted by the Lakers in Oswego, New York. The opening tip is set for 7:30 p.m.