Stephen Peters scored 17 points as Stevens rolled past Centenary, 96-75.

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. (February 15, 2006) – Junior guard Stephen Peters (Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y.) came off the bench to score a season-high 17 points as the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s basketball team picked up its second straight win with a 96-75 victory over Centenary College on Wednesday in Hackettstown, N.J.  Peters was five-for-nine from the floor, canned two three-pointers and made all five of his free-throw attempts as the Ducks improved to 13-11 on the year.  Centenary suffered its 21st straight loss and fell to 2-22 overall (0-15 Skyline Conference).

Trailing 27-26 with four minutes remaining in the first half, Stevens used a 20-9 run to claim a 46-36 lead at the break.  Sophomore guard Waleed Farid (Woodside, N.Y.) and junior forward Tim Williams (Selden, N.Y.) tallied six points apiece during the spurt.  Senior guard Isaac Moore (Phoenix, Ariz.) connected on a lay-up with five seconds left as the Ducks took a 10-point lead into the locker room.

Centenary hung around in the early portion of the second half and only trailed 63-56 with just under 12 minutes to play as senior guard Andre Harris (Morristown, N.J.) converted on a conventional three-point play.  Stevens responded with a 16-1 run in the span of 4:32 as the Ducks put the game away.

Williams began the burst with a pair of buckets.  Peters, who scored 12 second-half points, sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a lay-up all within 71 seconds as the Ducks took control of the game.  Farid followed with a lay-up, and Peters capped the run with another lay-in as Stevens opened a 79-57 advantage with seven minutes remaining.

The Ducks were never challenged the rest of the way as their lead grew to as many as 27 points (94-67) on a lay-up by freshman guard Virgil Gray II (Elmwood Park, N.J.) with exactly two minutes to play.

Stevens received a team-high 21 points from Williams, who was 10 of 13 from the floor.  Williams also had five rebounds and four blocked shots.  Farid finished with 16 points on seven of 15 shooting to go along with eight assists, six rebounds and three steals.  Moore added 13 points, five assists and five rebounds.  He was 5-for-5 from the field for the Ducks.  Gray collected 10 points as five players scored in double figures for Stevens.

Centenary was led by Harris, who scored a game-high 27 points and dished out five assists.  Harris was 13-for-19 from the foul line.  Junior guard Kobeia Cummings (Queens, N.Y.) added 10 points and four rebounds.

For the game, Stevens shot 53.6 percent from the floor.  The Ducks made 17 of 33 shots (51.5 percent) in the first half and 20 of 36 attempts (55.6 percent) after intermission.  Centenary was held to 37.7 percent shooting (23-for-61) for the game and committed 20 turnovers.

Stevens is currently tied with Yeshiva University for fifth place in the Skyline Conference with identical 8-6 marks.  Based on the fact that the Ducks swept the season series from the Maccabees, Stevens owns the tiebreaker should the two teams finished tied.  The Ducks can lock up the No. 5 seed for the upcoming Skyline tourney with a victory over Maritime College in the regular-season finale on Saturday.  Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Hoboken, N.J.  Yeshiva will also be in action on Saturday as the Maccabees travel to Riverdale, N.Y., to face the College of Mount Saint Vincent at 8:30 p.m.  Mount Saint Vincent may have an opportunity to sneak into the postseason as the No. 8 seed should the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy lose at home to Mount Saint Mary College earlier in the day on Saturday.