Hartford wins America East opener, tops New Hampshire 61-52

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Moses Flowers scored four of his 28 points in the final two minutes and Hartford held New Hampshire scoreless over the final two-and-a-half minutes to wrap up a 61-52 victory in the America East Conference opener for both schools Saturday afternoon.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Moses Flowers scored four of his 28 points in the final two minutes and Hartford held New Hampshire scoreless over the final two-and-a-half minutes to wrap up a 61-52 victory in the America East Conference opener for both schools Saturday afternoon.

Nick Guadarrama's 3-pointer with 6:27 to play got the Wildcats within three at 50-47, but Flowers stole the ball from Jayden Martinez and scored on a fast break, then followed it with a layup to push the lead to seven with just under five minutes to play.

With Flowers on the bench, Sean Sutherland's jumper with 3:43 again got New Hampshire within three, 54-51. Flowers scored in the paint with 1:20 left to push the lead back to five points and hit two free throws with :36 left to make it seven.

Flowers was 10 of 13 from the field, including 4 of 5 from long range for Hartford (8-8). Malik Ellison grabbed 14 rebounds.

Sutherland scored 17 points to lead New Hampshire (7-7), Guadarrama added 13 points and Chris Lester grabbed 11 boards. Since mid-November New Hampshire has alternated wins and losses, not sustaining back-back losses or earning consecutive wins.

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