Elmira, Alfred, SJFC and Hartwick Grab Friday Wins
ALFRED 82, Houghton 77
The Alfred University Saxons took home a grinder of a game from the visiting Houghton College Highlanders Friday evening at the Terry S. Galanis Family Arena, 82-77.
The Saxons took home the scrappy points in the paint, outscoring Houghton 42-34 and capitalized on turnovers netting 25 points off turnovers compared to the Highlander's 16 on the way to their third Empire 8 victory on the season.
The Saxons got out to an early lead with 18:17 left in the first half and never let the lead out of their clutches again the rest of the game. Tough defense, along with precision shooting from the field (58.1%) and three-point range (42.9%), abled AU to grab a sufficient lead of 13 points at the half, 48-35.
The first half was dominated by the junior guard Julian Reinhart (Hornell, NY/Hornell) who was unstoppable while driving to the hoop. All of his 15 first half points were essentially acrobatic plays that found the net.
In the second session the Highlanders nickeled and dimed the Saxons defense and crawled their way back into a seeming blow out. With 7:04 to go in the game Houghton was down by four points after a Johnathan Stowe free throw to make the game 64-60. Only seconds later senior Ryan Mahon (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) answered with two free throws to put the Saxons lead back to six.
The Highlanders then seemed to break through the AU defenses and brought the game within three-points on a free throw made by John Nelson with 3:15 to go. However, the Saxons did not panic and quickly ramped up a seven point lead only second later off two good free throws by Reinhart and a steal-layup combo from Jerry Kincel (Moosic, PA/Riverside). The rest of the game the Saxons capitalized on free throws to put the Highlanders away.
Reinhart finished the night with a game-high 19 points while adding two assists. Sophomore Tyler Seelman (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary) was right behind him with 15 points and two assists, while Dalton Walsh's (Stockton, NY/Cassadega Valley) double-double streak was snapped at two games, netting 14 points and 8 boards.
ELMIRA 75, Utica 64
The Utica College men's basketball team lost to host Elmira College 75-64 in Empire 8 Conference action on Friday night. Utica senior point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) netted a game-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the floor. Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) added his second double-double of the season as he registered 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The Pioneers' record moved to 4-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play. Elmira (4-8, 2-2 Empire 8) was led by 18 points, six assists and four rebounds from Oladapo Badmos.
Utica returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Alfred for an Empire 8 contest at 4 p.m. Freshman Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) chipped in with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor.
The Pioneers jumped out to a quick 11-6 lead in the first 4:19 of the contest (5-of-7 shooting from the floor). Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science) got off to a quick start for Utica with seven points in the first five minutes of action.
Utica maintained its advantage until the 2:17 marker of the first half after a 17-11 run by the Soaring Eagles. Elmira added another bucket before the half and took a 35-32 lead into the locker room.
Elmira used a 24-14 run in the opening 12:15 of the second half to take a 59-50 lead with 6:20 remaining in the contest. The Soaring Eagles caused five turnovers and shot 9-of-18 in the stretch. The Pioneers went on a 7-3 run in a span of 2:14 to cut its deficit to just five points with 4:06 remaining but the home team closed out the game on a 13-7 run to earn the 11 point victory.
The contest featured five ties and three lead changes. Utica's last lead of the game came at the 18:13 marker of the second half and the Pioneers largest lead of the game was 23-18 at the 8:50 ledger of the first half. UC out rebounded the Soaring Eagles 32-22 but the Pioneers turned the ball over 18 times in the loss.
Elmira saw 54 of its 75 points come from bench players.
ST. JOHN FISHER 73, Stevens 59
The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team used an 18-3 run over an eight-minute span during the first and second halves, to push its winning streak to nine games, as the Cardinals earned a 73-59 win over visiting Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday night in an Empire 8 conference matchup.
With the win, Fisher improves to 11-2 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8, good for first place in the conference standings.
Stevens (5-7, 2-2), who shot a blistering 72% from the floor over the opening 15 minutes, enjoyed its biggest lead of the day at 33-27 with 5:10 remaining in the opening period.
Fisher, however, used a 12-3 run over the final five minutes of the first half to take a 39-36 lead at the break and used a 6-0 spurt to start the second half and never trailed again.
The Cardinals used a very balanced scoring attack to lead the way with five players finishing in double figures. Senior Optimystik Kinard scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the first half and also added a team-high four steals. Classmates Adam Ambielli and Stefan Bock scored 12 and 10, respectively.
Junior Chaz Lott totaled 13 points and five assists, while sophomore Keegan Ryan finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Fisher shot 51% from the floor for the game (52.2% in the first half and 50.0% in the second), while Stevens finished the game at 47.1% (61.5% in the first and 32.0% in the second).
Fisher will return to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday, hosting Hartwick College. The Hawks (8-4 overall, 3-0 Empire 8) are the defending Empire 8 Conference champions and are coming off a 83-56 win at Nazareth College on Friday.
HARTWICK 83, Nazareth 56
After Nazareth jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the opening eight minutes, visiting Hartwick stormed back with a 25-0 scoring run to take control of the game. The Hawks went on to defeat the Golden Flyers 83-56 in the Empire 8 Conference men's basketball contest. Junior Nick Nadeau scored a team-high 15 points and classmate Mitch Ford added 11 points for Nazareth.
With the loss, the Golden Flyers fall to 4-7 overall and 0-2 in Empire 8 games. Hartwick improves to 8-4 overall and 3-0 in conference contests.
Nazareth took its eight-point advantage with six points from junior Maurice Mills, five points from sophomore Jack Mulcahy, three points from Ford, and a pair of free throws from Nadeau. Mills' layup, with 12 minutes left to play in the first half, gave Nazareth its largest lead of the game. Mills also scored about three minutes later to maintain the Golden Flyers' lead, 18-14.
Following Mills' bucket, the Hawks scored 25 consecutive points to take a 39-18 lead. Nazareth was held without a point for 7:44. Nadeau's drive to the basket and layup with 1:33 to play in the stanza ended the Golden Flyers' scoreless streak. Hartwick built its lead by connecting on 42 percent (8-19) of its three-point attempts and outrebounding Nazareth 23-17.
In the second half, the Hawks continued their torrid shooting by connecting on 64 percent (7-11) of their three-point attempts.
In addition to the points from Nadeau and Ford, sophomore Denzell Jackson tallied nine points, and Mills finished with eight points. Sophomore Dan Morse and Mulcahy added six points and five points, respectively.
Trevor Norton, Justin Pratt, Matt Petruccione, and Jake Sinicki all scored in double-figures for Hartwick and combined for 56 points.