Stevens Clinches Empire 8 Regular-Season Title
Stevens Institute of Technology locked up the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament courtesy of the victory in Alfred Friday night and Ithaca College's loss to Utica College at the buzzer. The Ducks will host the Empire 8 Championship Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23 in Canavan Arena. Stevens will play at 6 p.m. on Friday against either Utica or Nazareth. Ithaca and St. John Fisher College will play in the other semifinal at 8 p.m., though seeding is yet to be determined. The two winners will play Sunday at 3 p.m. All the action will be webcast live at
www.Empire8.TV.
The Golden Flyers can earn the fourth seed with a victory over Ithaca on Saturday. Nazareth also earns the spot with a loss to Ithaca, if Utica also falls to Elmira on Saturday. Utica will clinch the fourth seed if they defeat Elmira and Nazareth falls to Ithaca.
Stevens 67, Alfred 55
Senior guard Sheldon Jones scored 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the 24th-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology men’s basketball team to a 67-55 win at Alfred University.
Stevens shot 22-for-53 from the field (41.5 percent) and 9-for-20 from long range (45.0 percent). The Ducks were 14-for-19 at the line.
Alfred shot 35.1 percent from the field, 4-for-19 from three and 11-of-17 at the line. The Saxons held a 31-29 edge on the glass and totaled nine steals. Dennis had 12 points and nine rebounds, while Ruback had 12 points.
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Utica 69, Ithaca 66
With the scored tied at 66-66 and 3.8 seconds remaining on the clock, UC junior
Connor Maisch took the inbounds pass in the corner, stepped back, and nailed the game-winning 3-pointer to lift Utica College to a huge 69-66 men's basketball victory over host Ithaca College on Friday night.
Utica now needs a win at Elmira tomorrow and an Ithaca win over Nazareth to earn a spot in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.
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St. John FIsher 77, Hartwick 60
The St. John Fisher College men's basketball program won its seventh straight game, as the Cardinals improved to 16-8 overall with a 77-60 win over visiting Hartwick College on Friday evening in an Empire 8 Conference matchup.
Fisher led 29-25 at the break. The Hawks led by as many as four early on, as Anthony Keane scored 12 of his team's first 17 points, giving his squad a 17-13 lead with eight minutes left in the half. Fisher, however, went on a 16-8 run to close out the half, with a 3-pointer from Lott putting the Cardinals up for good.
The Cardinals kept in going in the second half. A 3-pointer from
Thad Wier with 16:11 left made it 39-29. Hartwick pulled to within eight points midway through the half, but back-to-back basket from
Tyler Hart gave Fisher a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.
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Nazareth 67, Elmira 45
Nazareth outscored Elmira 35-16 in the first half and went on to defeat Elmira 67-45 in a men's Empire 8 basketball game on Friday evening. Senior
Tyshun Stephens tallied a game-high 21 points to surpass 1,400 total points in his career at Nazareth. Stephens currently stands at 1,406 career points. Junior
Brad Ford scored eight points, and he currently stands at 987 career points.
The Golden Flyers surged to their 19-point lead in the opening period by holding the Soaring Eagles to 29 percent (5-17) on their field goals and forcing 12 turnovers. Nazareth, meanwhile, connected on almost 41 percent (13-32) on their field goals and had only two turnovers.
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