Zeglinski’s Three Sends Hawks Past Binghamton

By in Sports,

Photo courtesy of Steve McLaughlin

The men’s basketball Hartford Hawks (4-14, 2-3 in America East) had two extremely important games this week in their conference race. First against the Binghamton Bearcats (7-12, 2-2 in AE) and then against the Maine Black Bears (12-6, 5-1 in AE). Hartford had really faltered down the stretch coming into the game, but had won two of their last three heading into the game against Binghamton Thursday.

Binghamton came out with next to no energy; Hartford was lighting them up. After being up early though, the Bearcats got into the game with Greer Wright leading the way for them with seven points. With just a little over eight minutes gone in the first half, the two teams had already combined for 32 points.
Hartford then started pulling away, posting a seven-point lead with seven minutes to go in the first half, thanks to Morgan Sabia and Joe Zeglinski who were shooting lights out. Hartford was doing well on the boards and the team had energy. Unfortunately for the Hawks, it wouldn’t stay this way.

The Bearcats answered with a 14-6 run and gave Binghamton a one-point lead going into the half. Hartford had blown the chance to pull away, and needed to win this game to stay even in the America East. At the start of the second half not a lot had changed, Binghamton was starting to pull away and with 11 minutes remaining in the game, had an eight-point lead over the Hawks with Greer Wright leading the way once again.

Hartford was able to find a spark though, and quickly turned that lead into just two with two minutes to go. The Hawks’ Joe Zeglinski hit a massive 3-point shot with 15 seconds left in the game to give the Hawks a 64-63 lead, and would end up stopping Binghamton for the win.

Zeglinski was player of the game with 16 points, three assists and four rebounds. He stepped up when the Hawks needed him to, but the work was not done. Next on the list were the Maine Black Bears, who had won four straight heading into the Saturday match up with the Hawks.

The game started exactly the way the Hawks wanted it to, taking a five-point lead with a little over 13 minutes remaining in the first half. But the Black Bears had come out with a size advantage on the Hawks and were determined to get away from the three-point shot. Just as hot as Hartford had started, Maine started burning up the court, going on a 9-0 run to give them a 16-12 lead.

After the run, neither team could stop each other. Within four minutes the score had gone from 16-12 to 29-23, with both teams rolling on the offensive side. After that though, Hartford just fell apart.

Maine went on another 12-4 run and had almost certainly sealed the deal with a 41-27 lead. The Hawks were shooting 44 percent compared to the Maine team who was shooting 72 percent, which would explain why the Hawks were behind by so much, but they were determined to make a comeback.

Within 10 minutes of the second half, the Hawks had completely erased Maine’s lead, and taken a 46-45 lead of their own. Joel Barkers had started to play some strong post offense and Zeglinski was shooting well from behind the ark.

The game stayed pretty much even throughout the second half, as Gerlad McLemore led the Black Bears with his 26 points with seven minutes left in the second.

But with just three minutes left in the game, Maine took a five point lead that they would not look back on. Holding a 71-66 lead, the Hawks would not be able to come back this time, and Maine was able to hold on to a 77-69 victory.
The game really could have gone either way, but with a few large streaks by the Black Bears, they were able to erase Hartford’s early lead easily.

The Hawks will continue the America East grind with a Wednesday night home game against Stony Brook (14-7, 6-2 AE). Hartford opened its America East season against the Seawolves and fell 70-59 despite 22 points from Zeglinski.


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