Score: Elmira College 111, St. Lawrence University 100
Records: Elmira (2-6), St. Lawrence (2-7)
Location: Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, N.Y.
 
ELMIRA, N.Y. -- It was a historic night for the Elmira College men's basketball team, as Hayden Harkins '18 made a program-record 11 3-pointers and Justin Porrett '19 dished out a program-record 19 assists in EC's 111-100 victory over St. Lawrence University on Saturday afternoon at Speidel Gymnasium. The win gives the Soaring Eagles a perfect 2-0 record against teams that appeared in the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament, as they also defeated Oswego State early this season.

Both teams came out firing in the opening half, as the Purple and Gold shot a scorching 60.0 percent (21-for-35) from the field and 62.5 percent (10-for-16) from 3-point range, while the Saints shot 18-for-32 (56.3 percent) from the floor. This high pace resulted in a combined 106 points scored in the opening half.

It was EC's 3-point shooting, specifically from Harkins, which helped it take a lead in the first half. -Harkins tied his single-game career highs in both points (24) and made treys (8) in just the first 20 minutes. Harkins' 3-pointers were responsible for two of Elmira's double-digit leads in the opening half, as a trey at 5:37 into the game gave EC its first double-digit advantage, 23-13, and a 3-pointer with 2:02 left before halftime gave the Purple and Gold a half-high 14-point lead, 56-42. Porrett was also fantastic in the first, as he tallied nine of his 19 assists in the stanza.   

St. Lawrence did not go down without a fight, however, as it went on an 8-0 run to draw the margin back to just six points, 56-50, heading into the break. Freshman guard Pierre Coffy paced the Saints in the half with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor.

EC's lights-out shooting continued in the second stanza, as it went 22-for-37 (59.5 percent) from the floor and 4-for-10 (40.0 percent) from 3-point range. This efficient shooting was led by Henry Cuffee '19, who made 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) attempts from the field in the second half alone. The Bel Air, Maryland, native scored 20 of his career-high 30 points in the second, in addition to grabbing 12 total rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year. 

Harkins and Porrett both reached their history-making marks in the second stanza. Harkins buried his 10th 3-pointer to tie the record previously held by Ryan Bennett '01, who did so in both the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons, at the 8:09 mark, before breaking the record just over three minutes later. Porrett, on the other hand, tied Luke Vogel '01 with his 14th assist with 8:33 remaining in the game, before getting his record 15th assist on Harkins' aforementioned 10th trey.

The contest was close at points in the second half, as St. Lawrence cut the deficit down to just four points, 68-64, with 13:09 remaining in the contest, following a Ben Crawford layup. EC answered with a 9-2 run to retake a double-digit advantage, 77-66, just two minutes later. The Saints drew the margin back to below 10 points one more time before the end of the game, but Harkins' 10th trey gave Elmira an 85-75 lead that would not fall below 10 points for the remainder of the game.     
 
In His Own Words…
Head Coach Randie Torgalski shares his thoughts on Elmira's offense in today's game…
"Our offense was able to get more open looks than we normally would because they played zone. I was very impressed with how our guys found each other. They passed up okay shots to find great shots. We are capable of scoring a lot of points. It was our third home game scoring over 102, I guess the guys just like playing at the friendly confines of Speidel Gymnasium."
 
Coach Torgalski talks about the team's mood in the locker room heading into today's game…
"We are just trying to get better. We have had five losses out of six that we had chances to win. They know what they are capable of, now it's just a matter of doing it for longer stretches of time and staying together."

Coach Torgalski shares his thoughts on Hayden Harkins' record-breaking performance…
"Hayden is one of the guys that we try to find early and see where he's at. Playing against the zone, we kept him moving, which prevented St. Lawrence from zeroing in on him. I've seen him get hot from deep before, but never like that."

Coach Torgalski talks about how the team will be able to carry this momentum into bouts against Binghamton and Stevens after the break…
"The game against Binghamton will be a great experience. We kept the team morale pretty high after last weekend. We felt pretty good after last week's losses, as we played well but just missed shots. We had a lot of guys make little plays throughout the game. Everyone that was on the court tonight did something to help us win."
 
News and Notes

• Elmira improves to 2-6 on the season.
• EC is a perfect 2-0 against teams that played in last season's NCAA Tournament.
• The Soaring Eagles ended a 10-game losing streak to St. Lawrence.
• Elmira last defeated the Saints in the 1987-88 campaign.
• The Purple and Gold have not had two 30-point scorers in a game in the past 16 seasons.
• Elmira has not scored 111 points since it tallied 117 against Roberts Wesleyan in 1993-1994.
• Harkins' 11 3-pointers is a program record, topping Ryan Bennett, who made 10 in a game in both the 1998-99 and 1999-00 campaigns.
• Harkins also scored a career-high 33 points in the win.
• EC's last 30-point scorer was Gino Leonardi, who tallied 32 in the 2015-16 season finale against Alfred.
• The Soaring Eagles have not had multiple 30-point scorers in a season since the 2002-03 campaign, when Corrin Jackson '03 reached 30 on three separate occasions.
• With 19 assists, Porrett passed Luke Vogel (14) for the most in a single game in program history.
• Porrett now has 273 assists in his career, which is ninth on the program leaderboard.
• Cuffee scored a career-high 30 points in the victory.
• With six double-doubles Cuffee trails just Kevin Grow of Carleton and Tyheim Monroe of Cabrini for the national lead in that category with seven.

 
Up Next
Elmira will ride the momentum from today's win into a matchup against Division I Binghamton University on Saturday, December 30. The road bout is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.