Stevens Gets Comeback Win; Ithaca and Utica Lose
STEVENS 66, Kean 65
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit late in the first half to earn its first win of the season, defeating Kean University by a score of 66-65 Tuesday night at the Harwood Arena in Union, N.J.
With the Ducks trailing 62-61 with 51 seconds remaining, freshman guard
Chris Cosgrove hit a jumper to give Stevens a lead it would never relinquish en route to evening its record at 1-1. Stevens forced two missed three-pointers on Kean's next possession and senior forward
Patrick Sabatino made it a three-point game with 20 seconds remaining. Again the Cougars would miss from long range, this time getting a rebound from Sabatino and 1-of-2 at the line from sophomore forward
Otis Osman to ice the game.
Osman led Stevens with 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists, shooting 7-for-10 from the field. Sabatino had 17 points and five rebounds, going 9-for-11 at the line in a strong game. Senior forward
Kenny Gan finished with seven points and seven rebounds, while Cosgrove had four points, three assists and a steal. Freshman guard Jayson Winnick added six points, two assists and two steals in a solid performance off the bench for Stevens.
Kean (0-2) took an early 3-0 lead, and 5:55 into the action was on top 10-6. The Cougars pushed the lead to six (12-6), but a three-pointer from Winick pulled the Ducks within three.
From that, point the hosts ran off five-straight tallies to go on top 17-9, and eventually, they pushed the margin to 13 points, before back-to-back buckets from Sabatino got the Kean lead into single digits. Unable to get closer for the moment, Kean went back up 12 with 1:50 left in the first, but three-pointers from Osman 50 seconds apart made it a 33-27 game with just 12 ticks left in opening period.
Senior forward Tim Steward – who had 13 first-half points - ended the half with a jumper for the Cougars, sending the teams into intermission with the score 35-27.
The Ducks came out strong in the second half, overtaking the lead thanks to a 13-3 run. Sophomore guard
Patrick Barron started things with a three-pointer and moments later back-to-back layups from Gan and Sabatino brought the Ducks within one point at 37-36. Sabatino tied the score at 37, and following 1-of-2 at the line from Kean, two stops around a pair of made free throws gave the Ducks a 38-37 lead. Kean came back to knot the score at 38, but the Ducks scored nine of the game's next 11 points to grab hold of a 47-40 edge midway through the second. Winnick, Sabatino and Gan all tallied baskets for the Ducks.
Kean was able to chip away, getting within three at 53-50, and tying the score at 56, but the Ducks used a layup from Osman thanks to a feed from Winnick to go back on top 58-56 with 3:01 remaining. The Cougars answered, as did the Ducks and Osman and the back-and-forth affair continued the rest of the way.
The Ducks had 30 points in the paint and 16 points off turnovers, shooting 23-for-52 (44.2 percent) from the field and 29.2 percent (7-for-24) from deep. They tallied 17 assists and just 14 turnovers, recording eight thefts as a team as well. Stevens held a 33-28 edge on the glass as Kean shot 42.2 percent from the field, and 37.5 percent from three.
Hobart 84, ITHACA 66
The Ithaca College men's basketball team dropped its first home game of the season Tuesday night, falling to Hobart by a score of 84-66 at Ben Light Gymnasium. The loss puts the Bombers at 0-2 on the year.
The Bombers shot 39.7 percent from the field, converting on 29-of-58 shots in the defeat. Ithaca hit seven shots from three-point range on 24 attempts.
Senior
Keefe Gitto led the Bombers with 20 points, combining with 11 rebounds for his second career double-double. Gitto also added two steals and a block in 28 minutes of play. Classmate
Max Masucci ranked second on the Bombers with 11 points off the bench. Masucci also paced Ithaca in three-pointers, hitting 3-of-6 shots from beyond the arc. Freshman
Carroll Rich also had a strong showing, hitting 4-of-4 shots for nine points in 23 minutes in reserve.
After a close start in the opening half that featured two ties, the Statesmen began to pull way midway through the frame. Trailing Hobart by a score of 27-17, the Bombers rallied and went on a 7-0 run, highlighted by a deep three ball from sophomore
Joe Masino. However, Hobart regained its momentum from that point on and carried it to the end of the first, giving the Statesmen a 47-29 lead at the break.
Ithaca played even basketball with Hobart in the second, with both teams scoring 37 points in the final frame. Hobart's strong first half would make the difference, giving the Statesmen the 84-66 win.
Cortland 73, UTICA 54
The Utica College men's basketball team lost its season opener 73-54 at host Cortland State on Tuesday afternoon. Utica (0-1) was led by 16 points and five rebounds from senior
Conor Maisch.
The Red Dragons (1-0) jumped out to a 14 point lead, 16-2, in the first 7:55 of the contest behind four points each from Lamard Herron and Matt McGowan. Herron led all Cortland scorers with 16 points and five assists on the evening.
The Pioneers picked up their scoring output in the final ten minutes of the first half, but the home team was able to counter throughout the stretch, and Cortland led by 13 points as the halftime horn sounded, 36-23.
Cortland used a 13-4 run in the first 3:48 of the second half to extend its lead to 49-27 after James Morales hit one of his four 3-pointers on the afternoon. Morales finished the day with 12 points, all by way of the three-ball.
The Pioneers managed to cut their deficit to 16 points, 60-44, with 5:47 remaining in the contest after senior point guard
Aaron Nevins made a lay-up, but it proved to be too late as the Red Dragons hung on for the 19 point victory.
Nevins finished the day with 10 points and three rebounds, while classmate
Chris Jeffers added nine points, including a 5-of-6 mark from the charity stripe. Ivan Itor led all bench scorers with six points in his first collegiate appearance, while freshman classmates
Dillan Veeder and
Shawn Celestin added three and two points, respectively, for the Pioneers.
Utica's
Marty Felicia chipped in with three points and three rebounds, but saw limited action after picking up four fouls.
Griffin Kelly and
Robert Tutein combined for five points for Utica.
The Pioneers were 3-of-18 from beyond the three point line on the afternoon as their record fell to 0-1 overall.