Albany, N.Y.- Gerardo Suero's 24 points and the entire UAlbany offense chipped in to beat Hartford, 88-63, on Monday, Jan. 2 at SEFCU Arena. Nine different Great Danes had at least two points in the contest. UAlbany improves to 9-6 overall and 1-0 in the America East Conference while Hartford falls to 0-13 and 0-1 in league play. The Great Danes will look to keep their winning streak alive as they travel to UMBC on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7 pm.
     Suero grabbed the game's Player of the Game having recorded 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and a steal. UAlbany had three others in double-digit scoring with Logan Aronhalt (17), Mike Black (15), and Luke Devlin (10).
     Hartford tallied three players in double-digits with Andres Torres leading the group with 13 points followed by Wes Cole's 12 and Yolonzo Moore II's 11.
     UAlbany led Hartford in overall shooting percentage, 55.9 to 37.7, and commanded the glass with a plus-18 margin (46-28).
     UAlbany came out of the first half firing on all cylinders grabbing a commanding 12-point lead, 20-8, with 12:08 remaining in the first half. Aronhalt and Suero led the charge with 13 of the 20 points during that run.
     The Great Danes would extend the lead to the largest of the half at 17, 31-14, with 8:07 to play in the first half. Devlin would put the exclamation point on the 17-point lead with a dunk.
     Hartford would look to respond and cut the deficit to nine, 31-22, with 6:00 left to play in the half. The sharp-shooting freshman, Wes Cole, came off the bench and hit all three of his three-pointers during that run to bring the Hawks closer.
     The Great Danes would get into the bonus with 38 seconds to play and allow Suero to hit two free-throws to end the half with a 12-point lead, 40-28.
     UAlbany led the half in shooting percentage, 53.3 to 33.3, and led on the glass, 20-16. Suero and Aronhalt led all scorers with 11 a piece.
     The second half was more of the same for the Great Danes, as they didn't take their foot of the pedal scoring 48 points. UAlbany opened up on another 20-12 run that brought the lead to its largest of the game at 18, 60-42, with 12:07 left to play. This time it was Suero combining with Black that led the charge scoring 13 points.
     The Great Danes found their stride on defense in the second half, as they didn't allow the Hawks to cut the deficit to less 20 in the last seven minutes of the game. Junior guard Jacob Iati came into the game and capped off the lopsided victory with a three-pointer to give UAlbany its largest lead of 28, 88-60, with 7 seconds remaining and eventually have the final score, 88-63.
     UAlbany is 6-1 on the season when holding opponents to 64 points or less. Its only loss when holding an opponent under 66 was to Siena, 64-60.