HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 10, 2010) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team rolled to a business-like 72-59 win over Hartwick College on Sunday evening at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. The Ducks jumped out to an 18-point halftime lead and never looked back as they led for all but 1:25 of the game. Junior center Bryan Franklin netted a career-high 14 points to lead a balanced Stevens attack. Sophomore Mike Cutri and freshman Russ Thompson were in double figures with 11 points apiece.

Stevens (9-3 overall, 4-2 Empire 8) controlled the entire first half, shooting 51.5 percent (17-of-33) from the field, and connecting on four three-pointers. Leading 7-6 5:12 into the action, the Ducks began to create some distance between themselves and the Hawks. Senior guard George Greco buried a long three from the right side, freshman Sheldon Jones made a layup and then followed with a jump shot and all of a sudden the Ducks were up 14-6 with 12:18 left in the first.

Senior Kyle Phillips (Ashland, Mass.) stopped the bleeding momentarily, but the Hawks were unable to string together stops and the Stevens lead kept growing. Senior forward Ian Masone hit a jumper with 9:59 remaining in the half to give the Ducks their first double-digit advantage (21-10) of the contest and they did not stop there. Freshman Russ Thompson buried one of his three first-half three-pointers to put the Ducks up 28-12.

The Hawks were able to get the lead down to 14 on several occasions at the end of the half but Stevens always had an answer and went into the break with a 41-23 advantage after Franklin turned an offensive rebound into two points. Stevens out-rebounded the Hawks 20-11 in the first half and scored 12 second-chance points.

The Ducks were able to push their lead to 21 on several occasions in the second half and their lead never went below 16 until Hartwick made a little run with four-plus minutes left in the game. Down 19 (62-43) at the 4:43 mark, the Hawks ran off 10-straight points to cut the lead to nine points with 2:15 remaining in the contest, but it was not enough as the Ducks went 10-for-10 at the free-throw line in the final 2:09 to seal the win. Franklin, Thompson, sophomore guard Eric Kessler, and Cutri all contributed big free throws in that stretch.

Franklin ended the game with 14 points of 6-of-8 shooting, seven rebounds, and a block. Cutri finished with 11 points and three boards and Thompson had 11 points, hit three of the four three-pointers he took, and had a steal and a rebound. Masone finished with eight points and five boards, and Jones netted eight and corralled four rebounds.

The Ducks finished the game shooting 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the floor and 31.3 percent from deep (5-for-16). They went 15-for-19 from the foul line and pulled down 39 rebounds compared to just 25 for the Hawks (5-9 overall, 2-4 Empire 8).

Hartwick was led by 25 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Chris Ryder (Port Washington, N.Y.). Senior forward Kyle Phillips (Ashland Mass.) netted 16 points and sophomore guard Mark Blazek (Erie, Pa.) finished with 10. The Haws went 19-for-43 from the field (44.2 percent) and were just 2-of-13 from three-point land. They connected on 19 of their 30 attempts from the line.

Stevens will return to action at Empire 8 rival Elmira College on January 15 at 8 p.m. The following day the Ducks will visit Ithaca College.