Box score
WEST HARTFORD, CT – The St. Francis (NY) Terriers suffered a heartbreaking 91-82 double overtime setback against the Hartford Hawks, Saturday afternoon at Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion. Hartford (1-3) outscored St. Francis (0-3), 12-3 in the final overtime period.
Senior guard Jamaal Womack led five Terriers in double figures with 17 points. Junior forward Kayode Ayeni and freshman forward Stefan Perunicic each added 16 points. Sophomore guard Rocco Rubino scored a career-high 15 points (4-of-6 three-point field goals) and classmate Ricky Cadell chipped in with 10 points, six boards and a career-high seven assists.
The Hawks were led by the tandem of senior Jaret von Rosenberg and junior Joe Zeglinski. Von Rosenberg poured in a game-high 24 points, including a layup and four clutch free throws in the final minute of the contest. Zeglinski finished with 22 points, a game-high 10 rebounds and five assists.
Hartford led 85-82 with under a minute to play in the second overtime when Zeglinski and von Rosenberg hooked up on the play of the game. With the shot clock winding down, Zeglinski found himself swarmed at the top of the key by two St. Francis defenders. He spun through the defenders with the intention of putting up a shot to beat the shot clock, but at the last second changed his mind and found von Rosenberg under the hoop for an easy layup to put the Hawks up five with 47 seconds to go.
While the decisive play in the final period occurred in the paint, the game was largely played behind the three-point arc. Hartford hit 57 percent of its three-point attempts, shooting 16-for-28 from deep in the game and 3-for-5 in overtime. St. Francis shot 17-for-39 from beyond the arc.
For much of the game, it didn’t look like overtime would be necessary. Hartford led by as much as 14 points in the first half when sophomore Anthony Minor hit a free throw to make the score 40-26 with 1:01 remaining before the break. St. Francis’ Rubino hit a three-pointer with six seconds to play in the half to cut Hartford’s lead to 11 at the half, 40-29.
St. Francis clawed its way back into the game in the second half, chipping away at the Hartford lead until it tied the game at 63-63 with 3:56 remaining in regulation. The Terriers took their first lead of the half at 65-63 on a jumper by Ayeni with 2:40 to play. St. Francis led by one when senior Michael Turner went to the free throw line with 22 seconds remaining. He missed on his first attempt but tied the game at 66-66 with his second, and Womack hoisted up a game-winning three-point attempt on the other end that was off the mark from the left wing.
The first overtime saw the team’s trade baskets for five minutes. Hartford took a 78-77 lead on a Zeglinski three with 1:23 to play, and freshman Genesis Maciel added a free throw 30 seconds later to increase the lead to two. St. Francis, however, tied the game on its next possession on a jumper by Cadell. The Hawks had the final possession but couldn’t get a quality shot, as Zeglinski was forced to put up a long three at the buzzer.
St. Francis won the tip in the second overtime and took a quick lead behind a Womack trey. It would be the Terriers only points in the final overtime, as Hartford answered with 12 straight points. Zeglinski tied the game with his sixth three-pointer of the contest, and the Hawks took the lead on a von Rosenberg free throw. Following a pair of freebies from Maciel, the Hawks pumped the lead to five on the Zeglinski-to-von Rosenberg layup. Von Rosenberg, who scored seven of Hartford’s 12 points in the second overtime, closed out the game with four free throws in the final 31 seconds.
The Terriers return to action for their home opener against local rival Manhattan on Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm.