Stevens Rolls into Empire 8 Title Game with 102-66 Win Over Utica
Rob Kulish
HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 22, 2013) – Empire 8 Player of the Year Sheldon Jones scored a career-high 38 points on 14-for-19 shooting and sophomore forward Patrick Sabatino pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds as the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s basketball team rolled into the Empire 8 title game with a 102-66 rout of Utica College in the Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship semifinals in Canavan Arena.
The top-seeded Ducks will take on second-seeded Ithaca College for the conference title Saturday at 3 p.m. in Canavan Arena. The win for the Stevens is its first-ever in an Empire 8 Tournament. The Ducks were previously 0-4, dropping semifinal contests in 2007-08, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 before earning the 36-point triumph Friday night.
The 102 points scored is the most in the Empire 8 Tournament (previous record was set by RIT in 2005 with 92 points) as the Ducks played an exceptional 40 minutes of basketball, shooting 58.7 percent from the field, 63.6 percent from three-point range (14-for-22) and 77.8 percent at the line.
Utica hung with Stevens for the opening 13 minutes, but the Ducks turned a 23-all tie at the 7:14 mark into a 40-27 lead with a 17-4 run over a span of just 3:30 that all but put the game away. Jones broke the tie with a three-pointer, and after the Pioneers cut the lead down to one, senior guard Russ Thompson hit a triple. Three’s from junior guard Matt Skrelja and Jones put the Ducks up double-digits as the top-seeded hosts cruised into the intermission up 48-32. In total, Stevens outscored Utica 25-9 to close the first.
The Ducks quickly upped their lead to 20 1:08 into half number two, and Utica could get no closer than 16 points the rest of the way. Stevens led by 20 or more points for the final 14:42 of the game and 30 or more for the last 5:46.
The 38 points scored by Jones in Canavan is an arena record. The senior hit 6-of-8 from three and 4-of-4 at the line, adding two rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal to a remarkably efficient scoring line.
Sabatino had 11 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks, with Skrelja turning in a fine performance for Stevens, tallying 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Thompson – a first-team all-conference pick – had 15 points behind three three-pointer, five assists and one steal, and freshman guard Evan Klimchak had 10 points and was 2-for-2 from deep.
The 102 points is a season-high for the Ducks who had 17 assists and just 14 turnovers. They tallied six blocks and six steals and had a 47-31 edge on the boards. Stevens scored 18 points off 12 Utica turnovers and had 16 second-chance markers.
Utica was led by 12 points apiece from senior Matt Baldwin, and juniors Chris Jeffers and Connor Maisch. Sophomore point guard Aaron Nevins also chipped in with 10 points for the Pioneers. Maisch, who entered the contest leading the country in 3-point field goal percentage, will finish his junior campaign shooting 52.8% (26 games, 85-161) from behind the arc which is a new Empire 8 Conference single season record. Maisch broke Nazareth's Mark Renkas' single season record originally set back in 1998-99 when Renkas shot 52.3 percent (26 games, 46-88).
Utica shot 34.3 percent from the field, 20.0 percent from three and 65.2 percent at the line. The Pioneers had 10 steals and five blocked shots.
Saturday’s title game is set to tip-off at 3 p.m. and all the action can be seen live at
www.Empire8.TV.