ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick men's basketball had a tough time getting rid of a pesky SUNY Cobleskill team but the Hawks came away with a 67-60 victory to claim the Holiday Inn Classic Championship Saturday at Lambros Arena.
            The Hawks trailed 48-47 with under 10 minutes to play but the defense stepped up to shutout the Tigers for nearly five minutes and a 9-0 run in the span gave the Hawks the lead to stay.
             Transfer Trevor Norton (Mullica Hill, NJ/Ursinus College) led three Hawks in double figures with a team-high of 19 points. He was 6-of-10 from the floor with a pair of three's and was perfect from the free-throw line (5-of-5) on the day. He also had six rebounds.
            Jake Sinicki (Endicott, NY/Maine-Endwell) scored a career-high 11 points for the Hawks to go along with six boards, and game-highs of five steals and three assists. Sophomore Joey Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) added 14 points for 'Wick.
            The Fighting Tigers led the Hawks for a large portion of the first half, which went back and forth with three lead changes and seven tie scores. A basket from Alexis Nunez at 7:22 gave Cobleskill the lead 20-19, which they nearly held for the remainder of the first half. The Hawks trailed 27-23 with under two minutes left but five points from Lufkin and another four from Norton, including a layup at the buzzer handed the Hawks a 32-29 lead heading into the locker room.
            Norton (9) and Lufkin (7) combined for 16 of the Hawks' 32 points in the half. Hartwick would struggle from the outside to aid in the deficit as it connected on only 3-of-19 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
            Hartwick maintained a slim advantage through the first five minutes of the second half until Nunez hit a three-pointer to give the edge to Cobleskill, 42-40, which it kept for four minutes. Four lead changes occurred near the midway point of the half before two Sinicki free throws put the Hawks up for keeps, 49-48, with 9:25 remaining.
            From there, the Hawks would force five Cobleskill missed shots and four turnovers as they built an eight-point lead, 56-48, with less than six minutes to go. The lead swelled to nine on two Justin Pratt (North Kingstown, RI/ North Kingstown) free throws with 1:12 left. The Tigers managed to cut it to five with only 19 seconds left but the Hawks closed it out from the line down the stretch, going 8-for-8.
            Pratt would end the day with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds for Hartwick.
            The Hawks would shoot 37% (20-for-54) on the night and they won the rebounding battle, 37-33. The Tigers made 43.4% (23-for-53) of their shots as a group.
            Nunez finished with a game-high 21 points. Travis Woods added 17 points.
            The Hawks next play at home against Union College on Tuesday night at Lambros Arena. Tip-off is 7 p.m.