John Peterson's Career Night on Senior Night Leads Hawks to a 68-56 Win Over UMBC

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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – After an ice cold first half, the University of Hartford men's basketball team, which had been idle for the last eight days, shook off the rust and got things going in the second as it took down the UMBC Retrievers, 68-56, at the Reich Family Pavilion at the Chase Family Arena on Thursday night.

Hartford, which closes out the 2012-13 regular season at Vermont on Sunday at 2:00 p.m., improves to 16-12 overall and 9-6 in league play. The 16 wins are the most for a Hawks team since the 2007-08 season, while the nine victories in America East play surpasses last season's conference win total by two. The Hawks can earn the third or fourth seed in the upcoming tournament, their best seed since 2008.

Playing in front of a crowd of 2,264 in his final regular season home game as a Hawk, graduate student John Peterson put together his first career double-double, the second for Hartford this season, after recording game- and career-highs in points (16), rebounds (11) and assists (3). The forward was honored prior to the opening tip in a Senior Night Ceremony, with senior Adam Singer being recognized for his contributions to the program as well.

The Hawks seemed to be running on all cylinders to start the game, as they jumped out to a quick, 10-4 advantage over UMBC (6-22, 4-11 AE) at the 15:44 mark. Sophomore Corban Wroe, who had six points in the outing, got his team on the scoreboard, converting on a three-point play the old-fashioned way to make it 3-2.

UMBC's defense locked down on Hawks' forward Mark Nwakamma, but luckily for the home team, Peterson was hot out of the gates, connecting from long range on back-to-back Hawks' possessions to push his team ahead at 9-4. The momentum kept flowing in favor of Hartford, which claimed a six point advantage following a free throw from Nate Sikma, but from there, the Hawks ran out of steam on offense and quickly lost their lead.

For 12 minutes, Hartford was held without a field goal, missing 14 consecutive shots from the floor. During that stretch, UMBCheld the Hawks to a pair of Jamie Schneck free throws while rattling off a 15 of its own to take a nine point advantage at 21-12 with 5:36 left to play before halftime.

Despite a poor 20.0 percent (5-of-25) first-half shooting effort that saw just two of those buckets come from inside of three-point territory, Wes Cole ended the drought with a deep three-pointer, sparking a 8-3 Hawks' run that brought the hosts within four points (24-20) at the intermission.

UMBC extended its lead to six on the Retrievers' first possession of the second, but the Hawks went on a 7-0 run to reclaim their advantage at the 17:21 mark. Hartford did a complete 180 in the second, hitting 14-of-23 in the final 20 while converting on 16-of-18 from the charity stripe to steam roll ahead.

With 12:30 left to play, Hartford, which led 37-36, went off on a game-deciding, 12-3 run to grab a 49-39 lead over a five-minute span. The Hawks never let that margin come closer than eight points down the stretch with help from sophomore Mark Nwakamma, who was held scoreless through the games's first 34 minutes, scored 11 points through the final six minutes.

UMBC, which was led by Ryan Cook's 16 points and eight rebounds, finished the game at 38.0 percent from the floor, making just 3-of-18 from three-point territory. Following the red-hot second period, the Hawks closed out the game at 40.4 percent and won the battle of the boards, 37-30.

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