ALFRED, N.Y. (December 5, 2009) – Senior captain Ian Masone scored a career-high 15 points on 7-of-8 from the floor and sophomore forward Simon Smith notched his second double-double in as many games as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team won its Empire 8 opener over Alfred University, 68-55, on Saturday afternoon in Alfred, N.Y. The Ducks (5-1 overall, 1-0 Empire 8), who are now riding a five-game winning streak, held the Saxons to 31.7 percent shooting from the floor and built an 11-point halftime lead en route to the win.
Stevens, which never trailed in its win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Tuesday night, scored the game's opening bucket 18 seconds in and never allowed the Saxons (5-3 overall, 0-1 Empire 8) to tie. The Ducks have now not trailed over the last 105:02 of game time.
The Ducks started this one well, opening up a 7-0 lead after just 1:59 of game time as sophomore guard Mike Cutri buried his first two attempts from the floor. After Alfred came back to trim the Duck lead to three (10-7), sophomore guard Eric Kessler connected from long range after a nice pass from freshman Russ Thompson to get the Stevens lead back to six.
Junior guard Mike Stopera (Scotia, N.Y.) hit a jumper to make it 13-9 with 12:08 remaining in the first, but Stevens answered with a 13-2 run over a span of 3:29 to build a 26-11 advantage with 7:46 to go in the opening half. Thompson started the spurt by drilling a triple and Masone, junior center Bryan Franklin, Smith, and senior guard George Greco all followed with buckets.
The Saxons cut the lead to 10 (26-16) with 5:35 showing on the clock, but the Ducks retaliated with an 8-1 run to take their largest lead of the game at 34-17. Senior forward Matt Higgins scored four of the eight points for Stevens.
Alfred was able to make it an 11-point game by halftime and 8:00 into the second half the Stevens lead was all the way down to six. With 8:25 to play, Stopera buried a deep triple to make it 46-44 Stevens, but on the ensuing possession Smith hit a pair of free throws. Stevens got a stop the next time down the floor and Masone put home a layup to get the lead back to six and take back some of the momentum.
Stopera hit another three with 6:39 to go cut it to four (51-47), but Higgins netted a layup on the other end and Greco followed with two free throws to push the lead back to eight. From that point on, Stevens was in control, pushing its advantage to 15 with 2:50 to go and eventually pulling out the 68-55 win.
For the second game in a row, the Ducks were able to withstand a solid run by their opponent and ended up earning a comfortable win on the road with solid execution and strong free-throw shooting.
Smith finished the game with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and in addition to his 15 points, Masone added four boards, and two blocks. Thompson had a solid game off the bench, scoring nine points to go along with four rebounds, two assists, and two thefts. Greco ended with nine points and team-highs in assists (four) and steals (three). Higgins ended his afternoon with nine points and three rebounds and Cutri scored five, pulled down three boards, and dished out two assists. Franklin finished with six points and four rebounds.
The Ducks shot 17-of-24 from the line but were 10-of-13 in the second half. They hit five threes and ended the contest with a 38-37 edge on the glass.
Alfred was led by a game-high 18 points from Stopera and 14 points and four rebounds from Ron Smith (Lyons, N.Y.). Alfred finished shooting 19-for-60 from the field and just 4-of-21 from deep. The Saxons were 13-for-20 from the line.
Stevens will return to action with a contest at Rochester Institute of Technology on Sunday at 2 p.m. Alfred returns to action on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Pennsylvania State University-Abington.
