ELMIRA COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES
Games 8 & 9: Elmira College vs. Wesleyan & Endicott
THIS WEEK’S OPPONENTS Wesleyan CARDINALS (8-1, 0-0 NESCAC)
Tuesday, December 29th, 2015 James Twohig Gymnasium -- Salem, MA -- 6:00 p.m.
Endicott GULLS (4-3, 2-1 CCC)
Wednesday, December 30th, 2015 James Twohig Gymnasium -- Salem, MA -- 5:00 p.m.
Last Time Out
The Soaring Eagles battled SUNY Cortland in a back-and-forth contest back on December 9th, with the Red Dragons pulling out the victory 80-66. Trailing by nine at the break, Elmira opened the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to three points at 42-39. Cortland would punch back with a 19-6 run of its own to widen the gap with 6:10 to play. Although the Soaring Eagles showed their resolve, cutting the deficit to six points, the Red Dragons would nail their free throws late to hold on for the comfortable win. Hayden Harkins ’18 continued his sharp shooting with a team-high 17 points, while Gino Leonardi ’16 and Justin Porrett ’19 chipped in 14 points and 12 points, respectively.
Living by the Three
Elmira certainly has not shown hesitancy in firing shots from distance this season. The Soaring Eagles have attempted 175 shots from three-point range through the first seven games this season, an average of 25.0 attempts per contest. The Purple and Gold have been quite successful from the beyond the arc, draining 69 of the attempts for a robust 39.4-percent clip as a team. EC will look to rediscover its hot hand at the Salem State Tournament, as the team is coming off its worst performance from distance on the year, shooting 29.2-percent (7-for-24) in the loss to Cortland. Harkins has been lights out from range this season. Of his 30 made shots, 29 have come from beyond the mark, while he is knocking down long-range shots at a 46.8-percent clip this season.
Clean Up the Boards
Rebounding has been an area that Elmira will look to improve upon when it returns to action this week. The Soaring Eagles have been outrebounded in six of their seven contests this season, entering this week’s contests with a -6.1 rebounding margin on the year. A big trouble spot for the Purple and Gold has been 2015-16 SCHEDULE (1-6, 0-0 EMPIRE 8) Day Date Opponent Time-Result their work on the defensive glass in recent games. Elmira has allowed opponents to pull down double-digit offensive rebounds in each of the last four games, an NOV. 20 Morrisville State^ L, 72-81 21 Mount Saint Mary^ L, 71-83 average of 12.8 per game. 24 Hilbert L, 73-80 28 Carnegie Mellon% L, 53-72 All-Time Series: Wesleyan 29 Chatham% W, 93-88 (OT) Elmira and Wesleyan have only met one other time in the history of both proDEC. 4 St. Lawrence L, 74-81 grams. The meeting occurred at the opening game of the Skidmore Tournament 9 SUNY Cortland L, 66-80 in Saratoga Springs, NY, during the 2000-01 season. The Cardinals took the victory 29 Wesleyan& 6:00 p.m. in the contest by a final score of 89-74. 30 Endicott& 5:00 p.m. JAN. 4 Stevens* 2:00 p.m. 8 St. John Fisher* 6:00 p.m. Scouting Wesleyan 9 Nazareth* 5:00 p.m. Senior guard BJ Davis leads the Cardinals in the backcourt, averaging 20.4 points 12 Ithaca* 6:00 p.m. per game. He has been lights out from distance this season, making shots at a 15 Utica* 6:00 p.m. 53.2-percent clip from beyond the arc, which is tied for 15th in the country. Davis 16 Hartwick* 2:00 p.m. also has shown a keen ability for getting to the charity stripe, where he is 41-of 19 Houghton* 6:00 p.m. 49 this season. Senior Rashid Epps and junior Joseph Kuo have made for a potent 21 Alfred* 6:00 p.m. 27 Ithaca* 6:00 p.m. one-two punch in the low post. Kuo ranks second on the team with 11.9 points 30 Stevens* 1:00 p.m. per game, while he leads the squad with 7.2 rebounds per contest and 12 blocks FEB. 5 Utica* 6:00 p.m. on the year. Epps has chipped in 9.1 points and 6.3 boards per game. 6 Hartwick* 2:00 p.m. 9 Houghton* 6:00 p.m. All-Time Series: Endicott 12 St. John Fisher* 6:00 p.m. Elmira is 1-0 in the all-time series against Endicott. The lone meeting took place at 13 Nazareth* 6:00 p.m. neutral site in the penultimate game of Elmira’s 1996-97 season, with the Soaring 20 Alfred* 2:00 p.m. Eagles taking home a barnburner of a contest by the final score of 95-88. 26 Empire 8 Semifinals TBA 27 Empire 8 Final TBA
Scouting Endicott
Bold Indicates Home Contest *Denotes Empire 8 Contest ^Elmira College Tip-Off Classic %Carnegie Mellon Invitational &Salem State Holiday Classic
ElmiraCollegeAthletics @ECSoaringEagles ECSportsInfo
Offensively, the Gulls are powered by junior guard Kamahl Walker, who is averaging a whopping 27.3 points per game to go along with his team-leading 3.6 assists. He poured in 35 points in the victory over Salve Regina, while he also has a 47-point effort on his resume, coming against Keene State earlier this season. Junior forward Daquan Sampson also is a formidable force to contend with in the low post. He ranks second on the team at 12.9 points per game, while he nearly averages a double-double with 9.9 rebounds per contest. ECSoaringEagles
Sports Information: Don Sherman (dsherman@elmira.edu); Dan DeCaria (ddecaria@elmira.edu); Travis Larner (tlarner@elmira.edu) Phone: 607.735.1131 Fax: 607.735.1768 Website: athletics.elmira.edu Address: One Park Place, Elmira, NY 14901