UAlbany routs Hartford on Senior Night

PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark McGuire

On Senior Night at the University at Albany, Australian Peter Hooley walks onto the SEFCU Arena court with (from left) sisters Xena and Venetia Hooley and father Jeff Hooley.

Some emotions flared up during University at Albany’s annual Senior Night, but the Great Danes used some time-tested techniques to get the job done.

Seniors Evan Singletary, Ray Sanders and Peter Hooley combined for 40 points and plenty of leadership, while sophomore Greig Stire continued his strong recent play with a career-high 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds as the Great Danes closed out the regular season with a convincing 75-59 victory over Hartford Saturday night before a crowd of 4,408 at SEFCU Arena.

UAlbany (13-3, 24-7), the No. 2 seed, takes on seventh-seeded Hartford (4-12, 9-22) in a rematch back here Wednesday night at 7 in the quarterfinal round of the America East Conference tournament.

The Great Danes followed head coach Will Brown’s traditional methods of attack quite well by dominating the boards (47-26), getting to the free-throw line (15-for-21 compared to Hartford’s 6-for-7) and playing tight interior defense. The Hawks shot just 37 percent from the floor.

Hartford head coach John Gallagher hinted that his Hawks might make a few slight changes in the rematch, but he added that at this stage of the season, coaches usually go with what has been successful to this point.

“I’d like to commend the seniors for Albany,” Gallagher said. “The trend in college basketball is for the [best] players to leave early, but you’ve got to respect the seniors who stay. Peter, Ray and Evan did a lot representing this league. There is a reason Albany is 24-7 overall and 13-3 in the league. But we will be the most excited team in the building on Wednesday.”

Brown said the Hawks did very little different than what was printed on the scouting report.

“The game went pretty much as expected. I was confident that Hartford would sit back in a zone and shoot a lot of threes. I think we did a great job on the glass, and we buried them on the free-throw line. But we have to do better on Wednesday.”

The strong play of Stire inside was key for the Great Danes. The 6-foot-7, 240-pound graduate of Christian Brothers Academy was 8-for-11 from the floor and was a bull on the boards.

“He should be the player of the week,” Brown said. “He was a monster in his last two games. The key to his success is not fouling. He has a lot of confidence in his jump hook.”

The Great Danes said they understand that stubbing their foe from this point forward will end their season.

“We know it’s one-and-done right now,” Hooley said. “It’s tough, but that’s the way it is right now. We will be ready to go on Wednesday night. We can’t take anything for granted.”

“We’re playing our best basketball right now,” said Sanders, who finished with 16 points.

Brown said the Great Danes need to tweak a few things, but added his team is playing well right now.

“This group deserves to keep playing because of how hard they are working and how talented they are,” he said. “Both teams have a sense of familiarity with each other. Our game plan is fine, but we just need to be sharper. Our team is built for playoff basketball. I feel pretty good that even though we didn’t play all that well we still walked away with a 16-point win.”

Hartford was paced by Pancake Thomas with 23 points and seven rebounds. Jalen Ross added 13 points.

HARTFORD (59)

Wilkerson 2-2 0-0 4, Blagojevic 1-8 2-2 5, Dunne 4-6 0-0 9, Ross 6-15 0-1, 13, Thomas 8-18 4-4 23, Lynch 0-1 0-0 0, Hobbs 2-8 0-0 5, Plousis 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 23-62 6-7 59.

UALBANY (75)

Rowley 1-4 0-0 3, Stire 8-11 2-4 18, Singletary 6-11 5-6 19, Sanders 7-12 0-1 16, Hooley 1-10 3-4 5, Andrews 0-1 0-0 0, Cremo 3-5 4-4 10, Nichols 0-0 0-0 0, Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Ennema 2-5 0-0 4. Totals: 28-59 15-21 75.

Halftime: UAlbany 33-29. Three-point goals: Hartford 7-34 (Blagojevic 1-5, Dunne 1-3, Ross 1-6, Thomas 3-12, Hobbs 1-5, Cooper 0-3); UAlbany 4-21 (Singletary 2-5, Sanders 2-6, Hooley 0-6, Andrews 0-1, Cremo 0-1, Ennema 0-2). Rebounds: Hartford 26 (Pancake 7), UAlbany 47 (Stire 10). Assists: Hartford 9 (Ross 3), UAlbany 13 (Singletary 5). Personal fouls: Hartford 19, UAlbany 14. Technical fouls: Stire. Officials: Guy Pagano, Jeff Plunkett, Kyle Walter. Attendance: 4,408.