Men's Basketball | 1/27/2024 10:12:18 PM
UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's basketball team (15-2, 8-0 Empire 8) topped Houghton University 94-77 on Saturday afternoon. Utica was getting to the rack all night long scoring 48 points in the paint and scoring 10 points off turnovers.
Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) became the 18th player in program history to reach the 1,000 career points mark after pouring in 20 points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) was also terrific dropping 22 points with three rebounds, four assists and two steals on 8-for-10 shooting from the field.
Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) turned in another double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and a team-high three steals.
Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was efficient, scoring nine points on 3-for-4 from beyond the arc with
Jackson Atty (Johnstown, NY/Fonda-Fultonville) and
Luke Bourgault (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute) each contributing seven points.
Utica came out firing with a quick 9-2 lead with buckets by Call, Brantley, Foley, and Bourgault. Back-to-back Brantley and Bourgault triples pushed the lead to 15-5 and this was followed up by a Foley and-one. The Pioneers continued to roll offensively and spread the rock well with another Foley three-pointer pushing the advantage to 29-13 just over halfway through the first half.
Utica continued to push the ball and produce on the offensive end with Call,
Jackson Atty (Johnstown, NY/Fonda-Fultonville), and Barasa each canning a jumper in three-straight trips. The Pioneers used another scoring run to lead 44-18 with just under five minutes in the first half. Morreale nailed a deep triple with just eight seconds left to aid Utica in taking a 56-24 advantage into the half.
The teams exchanged a pair of buckets to open the second half with the Highlanders offense starting to consistently convert its opportunities. Houghton cut the deficit to under 30 yet Utica kept its offense rolling, leading 74-44 at the 11:48 mark.
The Highlanders started to find their stroke from behind the arc and play through JaJuan Preaster who nailed back-to-back jumpers to cut the Pioneers lead down to 82-60 at the 7:58 mark. The teams went bucket for bucket with Houghton trimming the lead to 17 with just under three minutes to play. Utica played strong defense down the stretch and hit a few buckets to hold on for a 94-77 Empire 8 victory.
Utica will host Nazareth University on Tuesday, January 30 at 7:30 p.m.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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