George Greco was instrumental in the Ducks' win over Yeshiva on Tuesday.

HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 20, 2007) – Freshman guards George Greco (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and Matt Higgins (Freehold, N.J.) each set new career-highs in scoring as second-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology rolled past No. 7 seed Yeshiva University, 87-51, during the quarterfinals of the Skyline Conference Men’s Basketball Championship on Tuesday at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J.  Greco made four three-pointers in the game and finished with 18 points.  Higgins contributed 15 points and six rebounds as the Ducks improved to 21-5 on the year.

With Tuesday’s win, Stevens advanced to the semifinals where it will host third-seeded SUNY College at Old Westbury on Thursday at 8 p.m.  That game will be carried live at www.duckcast.com.  The Panthers reached the semifinals with a 78-70 victory over sixth-seeded United States Merchant Marine Academy on Tuesday.  Stevens and Old Westbury split a pair of games this season with each team winning on its home court.

Greco and Higgins were the story of the first half as Stevens built a 47-27 lead in the opening 20 minutes.  Greco had 14 points on four three-pointers while Higgins contributed 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field in the period.

Leading 14-11 midway through the first half, Stevens went on a 20-5 run in less than five minutes to go up 34-16 on a three-pointer by Greco with 5:21 left on the clock.  Greco, who was 5-for-8 from the floor in the game, had three three’s in the run.  Higgins (6-for-9 from the field on the evening) added four points in the spurt as the Ducks took control.  Stevens started out on fire as the Ducks scored 21 of their first 25 points from behind the arc.  In the first half, Stevens shot 60.0 percent (9-for-15) from downtown.

Yeshiva (15-11) opened the second stanza by scoring the first five points to close to within 47-32 with 17 minutes remaining.  The Ducks answered right back as sophomore guard Virgil Gray II (Elmwood Park, N.J.) knocked down a three-pointer to spark a 10-0 run.  Gray went on to score six points in the burst as Stevens grabbed a 57-32 lead with 12:13 to go.  The Ducks led by at least 30 points over the final 6:42 of the game.

Gray led all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field.  He made three shots from long range and added three assists in the contest.  Sophomore guard Anthony Passalacqua (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished with 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.  He made six of 10 shots for the Ducks.  Junior guard Waleed Farid (Woodside, N.Y.) totaled 12 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Yeshiva was led by senior center Harel Vatavu (Ramat Gan, Israel), who had 14 points despite turning the ball over 11 times.  Junior center Shuki Merlis (Atlanta, Ga.) added 11 points and seven rebounds.

For the game, Stevens shot 47.5 percent (28-for-59) from the floor.  The Ducks made 12 three-pointers as a team.  The Maccabees committed 23 turnovers in the game and connected on only 17 of 57 field-goal attempts (29.8 percent) as a team.  In the second half alone, Yeshiva shot 6-for-32 (18.8 percent) from the field.