Rutgers-Newark 69, STEVENS 52
Senior forward
Patrick Sabatino became the 19th member of the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball 1,000-point club, but the Ducks dropped a 69-52 contest to Rutgers-Newark Sunday afternoon in the Canavan Arena.
Sabatino converted a pair at the line with 25 seconds remaining for points 999 and 1,000 of his career, giving him 13 for the game.
With the win the Scarlet Raiders improve to 5-1 on the season. The Ducks see their two-game winning streak snapped as they drop to 3-3 on the season. Stevens will visit Baruch College on December 3 and New York University December 6 to close out the 2014 portion of its schedule.
Despite 19 fouls in the first half, the opening 20 minutes featured a lot of back-and-forth from each team with neither team taking a big-time lead throughout,
The Ducks jumped out to an early 5-2 margin behind a three-pointer from sophomore forward
Otis Osman, and jumpers from senior forward
Kenny Gan and senior forward
Patrick Sabatino made it 11-6 Ducks with 12:07 to play in the first half.
A pair at the line from sophomore guard
Patrick Barron pushed the Stevens edge to seven (15-8) with 10:19 to play in the opening period, but a 13-5 spurt from the Scarlet Raiders gave them the lead at 21-20 with 5:50 left.
The see-saw first ended with the Ducks outscoring the guests 6-0 to a take a 30-26 lead into the locker room. Gan tallied all six points underneath, getting four points via put-backs and two more thanks to a gorgeous feed from Barron.
Rutgers was able to make a big-time run to start the second half, outscoring the Ducks 18-3 over the first 4:49 of the period to take a 44-33 margin with 14:11 left in regulation. A Gan layup and Sabatino jumper got the deficit to just seven points, and two at the charity stripe from Sabatino brought the hosts within five midway through the final stanza. A Sabatino jumper and 1-of-2 at the line after a stop pulled the Ducks within two points (46-44), but Rutgers ran off eight-straight to go back on top by 10 points.
From that point, Stevens was able to get within eight points, but the Ducks could get no closer, eventually falling 69-52.
Stevens shot 27.6 percent from the field was a 2-for-14 from long range. The Ducks hit 90 percent (18-for-20) at the line, recording seven assists and seven steals as a team.
Rutgers-Newark shot 54.0 percent from the field and finished 12-for-17 at the line, pocketing a 35-34 edge on the glass and 17 assists. The Scarlet Raiders were led by 45 combined points from senior guard Christian Garcia and junior forward Jordan McDaniel.
Gan led the Ducks with a double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds, adding two steals to his line. Sabatino had 13 points, five boards and two steals, with Osman netting 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
St. Lawrence 62, UTICA 56
The Utica College men's basketball team dropped its final game of the Hamilton College Invitational Sunday afternoon as it fell to St. Lawrence University 62-56.
Utica held a 31- 28 lead at halftime, however the Saints outscored UC by nine in the second half to pick up the victory. Junior
Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) led the Pioneers with 22 points en route to being named to the All-Tournament Team. Tutein also collected two blocks and two steals, as well as five 3-pointers. Senior
Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) netted 11 points, including three from behind the arc, and he also added six assists and four boards for UC.
Senior
Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) recorded nine points and added a team-high five rebounds, while
Marty Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) also had five boards and netted two points.
Mark Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) was 2-for-2 from the field and collected two rebounds in eight minutes of action off the bench.