Men's Basketball | 2/15/2022 9:07:00 PM
UTICA, NY - The Utica men's basketball team secured its second 20-win season in program history, the other coming in the 2005-06 season, with its 89-77 win over the Keuka College Wolves on Tuesday night.
The Wolves started red-hot from the field from the opening tip, opening the game ahead 16-2 through the first 4:30. The Pioneers trailed by as many as 15 points in the half before going on a 35-19 run of their own to end the half.
With 3:30 to go in the first and Keuka up 37-27, Darius Hopkins and Kobe Lufkin converted on three straight threes to pull the team within one point. Those two along with Avery Coston combined to go 9-for-15 from three-point in the first half, accounting for all nine Utica threes on 23 attempts. Thomas Morreale scored the last two buckets in the first half as his layup with 32 ticks left gave Utica its first lead of the half at 40-39. That would remain the score entering halftime.
The Wolves shot 53.8 percent from three and 57. 1 percent from the field in the first to Utica's 39.1 percent from three and 37.8 percent overall. The Pioneers also committed 15 turnovers through the first 20 minutes.
Utica kept the pace in the second half, working its lead up to 19 points through the first seven minutes of the frame. The Pioneers would go on to shoot a much-improved 62 percent from the field and 53.85 percent from three in the second half, taking 10 less shots from beyond the arc in all than in the first as the inside game worked well for the final 20 minutes. The Wolves were held to 41 percent shooting from the floor and 13 percent from three in the final half.
Hopkins tied a career high he has set twice before with 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the floor and 7-for-10 from downtown. Lufkin totaled 17 points on 10 shot attempts, nine of which from three, while Morreale ended the contest with 15 points and a team high seven assists. Coston filled his stat line with nine points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Isaiah Samuel made his debut on the court with Utica, recording one rebound in two minutes of action.
The Pioneers also set another program record with its 13th conference win this season. Utica now sits one way away from clinching its first regular season Empire 8 title as well as home court advantage in the upcoming conference tournament.
Utica (20-3, 13-1 Empire 8) travels to Houghton College on Friday night for the first of two road games that will wrap up the regular season. The Pioneers and Highlanders tip-off at 7:30 on Friday night before Utica concludes the regular season at Alfred university at 4 p.m. on Saturday.