JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Saint Peter's College Peacocks (5-23) suffered their fifth straight defeat this afternoon at the hands of the University of Hartford Hawks (8-19) in a Sears Bracketbuster Series game. The Peacocks led 17-16, but a 15-5 run by Hartford opened up a nine point lead for the Hawks and then never looked back. Saint Peter's could only get as close as seven in the opening minutes of the second half. Darius Conley poured in 20 points to lead the Peacocks.
Hartford won the opening tip and scored the first four points of the game for a 4-0 lead. Saint Peter's quickly tied the game, but the Hawks had a 14-8 lead at the 11:56 mark. The Peacocks then scored the next eight points to take their first lead at 15-14. Saint Peter's led 17-16, but a 15-5 run by Hartford gave them their largest lead at nine points, 31-22 at the 1:15 mark. The Peacocks went into the break trailing 33-24.
Conley scored 11 points in the first half to lead Saint Peter's. Andres Torres scored 10 points in the opening frame for Hartford. Hartford shot over 66% in the first half, while Saint Peter's shot 47.8%. The Hawks outrebounded the Peacocks 13-8, but committed 13 turnovers, while forcing eight.
Saint Peter's scored first to start the second half, but four straight by Hartford opened the gap up to 11 points at 38-27. The Peacocks then trailed 41-30, but a 6-0 run by the Hawks made the score 46-31 at the 10:10 mark. An 8-2 run by Saint Peter's got the deficit down to 48-39 with 8:13 to play, but five straight by Hartford put the lead back up to 14 points and the lead would stay above double figures for the rest of the way.
Conley was 8-12 from the field with nine rebounds an assist and a block. Mark Nwakamma scored 18 points to lead Hartford. Saint Peter's shot 41.7% from the field, but allowed Hartford to shoot nearly 62% from the floor. The Hawks controlled the board 34-17, but committed 21 turnovers to the Peacocks 12.
Saint Peter's will get back into MAAC play on Friday night for their home finale against Niagara. Tip-off is slated for 8pm following the Peahens game against Rider at 5:30pm.
