Stevens, St. John Fisher Win, Elmira Drops Non-Conference Tilt on Saturday
STEVENS 80, Utica 67
UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team lost to visiting Stevens Institute of Technology 80-67 in Empire 8 Conference action on Saturday at the Clark Athletic Center. Utica's
Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn)led the way with 16 points while classmate
Aaron Nevins(Buffalo, NY/Canisius) added 12 points and four assists. 13 different players scored at least one point for Utica.
The Pioneers snapped a two game winning streak as their record moved to 8-11 overall and 4-6 in the Empire 8. Stevens (8-9, 5-4 Empire 8) rebounded from an 18 point road loss at Hartwick on Friday night. The Ducks were led by five players who scored in double-figures. Kenny Gan led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds while classmate Patrick Sabatino also posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Ducks shot 52.5% (31-for-59) from the floor on the afternoon while holding UC to a 37.5% (21-of-56) clip. The Pioneers did knock down 11 3-pointers, including three each from
Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) and
Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn). Henderson finished the night with nine points off the bench.
Utica opened the contest on a 13-9 run in the first 6:19 to earn an early four point lead. Stevens responded with a 16-6 run in the next 5:14 to take a 25-19 lead with 8:27 to go in the first half of play. The Ducks shot 7-of-9 from the floor in the stretch.
The visitors added an 18-5 run before the half and led by as many 16 points, 43-27, with less than a minute to go before the intermission.
Stevens scored the first nine points of the second half to take a 21 point lead at the 15:06 mark. Utica answered with a 17-10 run in the next 5:21 to cut its deficit to 62-48 with 9:45 remaining. Stevens then put the game away with a 14-3 run in a span of four minutes to earn their largest lead of the contest (25 points), 76-51.
The UC reserves were able to cut that margin to 13 points as the final horn sounded.
Freshman
Mike Cannizzo (Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville) scored four points off the bench in the closing minutes, while
Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) added eight points for Utica.
Patrick Barron netted 16 points for Stevens and junior Alex Lorenz came off the bench and posted 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor.
CORTLAND 54, Elmira 43
Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's basketball team held the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons to their lowest scoring output of the season, but EC's defensive efforts would come up just short as the Soaring Eagles fell to the Red Dragons, 54-43. Nine different players made their way into the scoring column tonight, with
Gino Leonardi'16 pacing EC with eight points.
Directly behind Leonardi was
Tyler Dibble'15, who produced a stat line of seven points, two rebounds, and a block. Dibble was also tasked with guarding Cortland's best player while on the floor, whether that be Lamard Herron or Blair Estarfaa, who came in averaging 16.4 and 12.6 points per game, respectively. Dibble and EC's combined defensive effort held the Cortland duo to just 10 points and 20 percent shooting from the floor.
Rounding out the box score for the Purple and Gold were a quartet of players with five points each,
Neil Randolph '15,
Connor Bays '18,
Oladapo Badmos '17, and
David Borelli '15. In addition to their five points, both Bays and Borelli each had strong performances on the boards, with seven and eight rebounds, respectively.
The Soaring Eagles were firing on all cylinders in the early goings of the first half, helping EC take swap leads with the Red Dragons four times in the first 10 minutes of the game. Elmira took a 14-11 advantage after a converted and-one by Dibble and maintained a lead until a three-point play by James Morales with 2:06 remaining put Cortland on top, 23-21. That play was part of a 12-2 Cortland run that put EC behind 30-23 at the half.
The Red Dragons expanded their advantage to 11 points shortly after the start of the second half, but EC would not go away. Elmira used a 7-0 run to make it a 34-30 game with 13:21 to go, but Cortland would stop the run on the next possession to keep it a multi-possession game. The Purple and Gold's deficit remained in single-digits for much of the second half, varying between four and eight points, but Elmira would not be able to overcome the Red Dragons as Cortland hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to knock off the Soaring Eagles.
EC will have over a week between games as they return to action on Tuesday, February 3rd at SUNY Fredonia. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
ST. JOHN FISHER 96, Ithaca 70
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team pushed its winning streak to 13 games – the fifth-longest streak in the program's 52-year history – as the Cardinals moved to 8-0 in the Empire 8 Conference and 15-2 overall with a 96-70 win over visiting Ithaca College on Saturday.
The loss drops Ithaca, currently in second place in the Empire 8, to 8-9, 5-3.
Fisher jumped out to a double-digit lead in the opening five minutes of the game, as a 3-pointer from
Adam Ambielli made it 17-5 with 14:53 left in the first half. Fisher led 51-28 at the half, as the Cardinals shot 60.0 percent from the floor in the opening stanza.
The Cardinals opened the second half with a 17-4 run over the first minutes, pushing its lead to 35 points at 69-34 and cruised to the 26-point win.
Stefan Bock, who scored a career-high 24 points last night, finished with 22 points, including 15 in the first half.
Keegan Ryan scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Ambielli tallied 17 points as well and led his team with four 3-pointers.
Junior
Tyler Hart came off the bench and chipped in with 11 points, while classmate
Chaz Lott finished with nine assists, six rebounds and six points with just one turnover.
Optimystik Kinard led Fisher with 12 rebounds and three blocked shots, while also scoring eight points.
Zach Ottaway ended the game with six points and five boards.