ONEONTA, N.Y. – Justin Pratt and Matt Petruccione combined to sink ten of 14 three-point field goals to lift the host Hartwick College men's basketball team to a 74-71 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Friday night in the first game of the Mayor's Cup at Lambros Arena. It was the first meeting ever between the programs.

In its first road game of the season, Eastern (3-1) got a career-high 27 points from junior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) in battling back from a nine-point halftime deficit.

Senior forward Brandon Yarborough (Stamford) had 11 points and freshman forward Tarchee Brown (Manchester) ten points and six rebounds for Eastern, with sophomore forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) adding nine points and seven rebounds.

In stopping a two-game losing streak, Hartwick (2-2) shot 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from three-point range. Five players finished in double figures for the Hawks, with Pratt leading his team with 20 points. A 6-foot-5 inch sophomore forward, Pratt connected on six of eight three-pointers and Petruccione, a senior guard, came off the bench to can four of six three-pointers.

The Warriors outscored the Hawks 10-2 after trailing by nine with 2:20 left  to cut the gap to one point before junior Glenn Gavan sank two free throws on his only attempts of the game to make it 74-71 in the final seconds. Down 72-70 with three seconds left, Eastern converted one free throw to make it a one-point game, but missed the second game-tying attempt.

Eastern had stormed back in the final minutes on a pair of steals by Lindo, a three-pointer by Preston,  an inside bucket and blocked shot off the bench by 6-11 sophomore David Canny (Torrington) in his first appearance of the season and a dunk off Canny's block  with a minute left by Brown that made it 70-68.

Eastern junior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford), coming off a career-high 31 points Wednesday against Nichols College, was 1-for-10 from the floor and finished  with four points.

The game was a battle of 2013-14 NCAA qualifiers. The Hawks qualified automatically by winning the Empire 8 conference tournament last year.

Eastern faces Oneonta State Saturday at 2 p.m. at Lambros Arena.