ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick's men's basketball shot a blistering 63% from the field in the opening half as it led by as many as 17 points against the visiting Utica College Pioneers, but they struggled in the second half and saw their lead quickly evaporate in an eventual 85-75 loss Saturday at Lambros Arena.
            Hartwick slips to 8-5 overall and 1-2 in the Empire 8 while the Pioneers win for the eighth straight time and improve to 12-2 and 3-0.
            The visitors would hit 15 three-pointers in the game. They hit nine in the second half alone.

            Pat Garey (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) and Kyle Bradshaw (Tinton Falls, NJ/Manasquan) combined for 50 of the Hawks' 75 points. Garey netted 27 with a trio of three-pointers. Bradshaw recorded a double-double of 23 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
            Bradshaw would score 17 points with Garey adding 10 as the Hawks shot 19-of-30 (63.3%) from the floor and 7-of-15 (46.7%) from three-point range in the opening half. After a couple of lead changes and tie scores in the first six minutes of action, a three-pointer from Austin Haskell (Kirkwood, NY/Susquehanna Valley) would give the Hawks a 15-12 advantage and they kept the lead for the remainder of the half.
            'Wick led by only two at the 10-minte mark before threes from Garey and Bradshaw followed by another Bradshaw bucket pushed the lead to 10 two and a half minutes later. Nick Eiler (Highland Mills, NY/Saddle River Day) hit a jumper at 5:52 and the Hawks were up by double digits for the rest of the half. A layup from Bobby Connors (Rockville Centre, NY/Chaminade) at the 1:31 mark gave 'Wick its largest lead of the game, 46-29. The Pioneers got the final five points and the Hawks hit halftime up 12 points, 46-34.
            Utica managed to tie the game at 50 just 4:16 into the second half as the team made its first four shots, including three treys. Garey stopped the bleeding with a layup at 15:17 and the Hawks maintained their lead for another three minutes. A UC triple at 12:17 put the Pioneers up for good, 57-55. Hartwick would go without a point for a 6-minute, 42-second window as UC built a nine-point edge.
            The lead would grow to 11 points with less than five and a half minutes left to play before Garey scored eight consecutive points for the Hawks to shave the UC lead to four, 72-68, with 2:38 left. Thirty seconds later, Hunter Remley sank his game-high sixth three-pointer of the game to build it back to seven and six points would be as close as the Hawks would get the rest of the way.
            The Hawks would make 34% (11-for-32) from the field and connect on only 1-of-9 from downtown as a group in the second half. They would finish the game making 48.4% (30-for-62) from the floor and 33.3% (8-for-24) from beyond the three-point arc. The Pioneers improved their first-half shooting of 38% to 48% in the second half. They hit 50% (9-for-18) from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.
            Garey made 10 of his 14 shots in the contest for the Hawks. Haskell closed the game with 10 points and eight rebounds. Connors had five rebounds and four assists.
            Remley led all scorers with 23 points. Darius Hopkins registered 16 with Thomas Morreale and Kobe Lufkin each scoring 11. Kimedrick Murphy scored 10 and grabbed a game-high 12 boards.

            The Hawks host Pine Manor College in their final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday, January 15 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

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