Cortland, NY – The Elmira College Men's Basketball team opened its season dropping a 56-70 contest to host SUNY Cortland Tuesday night. Cortland improves to 1-0, while the Soaring Eagles drop to 0-1.

Despite shooting just 26 percent from the field in the first half Elmira shot 44 percent from distance, making eight three-pointers, compared to none for the Red Dragons. Josh Keys '14 (Bel Air, MD -- CM Wright), Matt Newell '14 (Cranston, RI -- St. Andrew's) and Derrick Vogel '14 (Bel Air, MD -- CM Wright) combined to nail all eight triples in the stanza. The Purple and Gold trailed by just two at intermission, 28-26.

Coming out of the break both teams played evenly as Cortland led 38-36 at the 15:27 mark. Over the next nine minutes the Red Dragons went on a 23-11 run to take a 61-47 lead that Elmira could not overcome.

Both teams were even in rebounding in the first half but EC outrebounded Cortland by nine in the second half, and the Soaring Eagles finished with an incredible 24 boards on the offensive glass. The Purple and Gold took care of the ball only turning it over 11 times in the game, but were unable to overcome shooting 24 percent from the field.

Keys and Newell led the charge for EC, finishing with 18 and 12 points, respectively. They combined to shoot 50 percent from downtown, making nine three-pointers (9-for-18). Vogel filled the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Elmira returns to action Friday in the Case Western Reserve Tip-Off Tournament when they face host Case Western Reserve at 8:00 p.m.