Utica Defeats Men's Basketball, 69-65; Ducks Fall to 5-9 in Empire 8

2/15/2009 12:00:00 AM

HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 15, 2009) – Freshman forward Simon Smith did all he could but it was not enough as the Utica College Pioneers defeated the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team, 69-64 in an Empire 8 game at Canavan Arena on Sunday afternoon in Hoboken, N.J. Smith scored 18 points on 8-for-9 from the floor and grabbed 15 rebounds in the loss as senior Doug Herring (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) led Utica with 25 points and five rebounds. The loss drops the Ducks to 5-9 in the Empire 8 and 12-11 overall, and the win clinches a spot in the four-team conference tournament for Utica in two weeks.

The Pioneers jumped on top 4-0 just 1:15 in, but senior guard Anthony Passalacqua hit a three and junior guard Matt Higgins hit two free throws to put the Ducks up 5-4. The Ducks were able to build a 9-5 lead at the 16:48 mark of the first, but Herring went on a personal 5-0 run to put Utica back on top.

That 5-0 run by Herring would turn into a 17-4 run in a span of 4:51 to give the Pioneers (15-8 overall, 9-5 Empire 8) a 22-13 lead halfway through the first. The Ducks however would come back to slowly chip away and eventually took a 27-26 lead after running jumper on the left baseline from freshman guard Michael Cutri. After a missed layup on the other end of the floor, Cutri came back to give Stevens a four-point edge after burying a three-pointer on a nice kick-out from Smith. The two teams traded baskets over the final minute-plus of the first, and the Ducks went into the intermission with a 32-28 lead.

The Ducks shot 40 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, only turned the ball over four times and had a 20-17 rebounding edge. They also hit five from long range.

After matching their largest lead (six points) twice within the first 1:04 of the second half, the Stevens lead began to melt away as Utica was able to tie the score at 38 with 16:42 to play. The two squads traded baskets over the next 3:30 before Utica used a 5-0 spurt to take a 54-48 lead with 10:51 in regulation after a layup by sophomore James Paterson (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.).

Trailing 56-50 with 8:10 on the clock, Stevens used a spirited 9-2 run over a span of 3:43 to retake the lead at 59-58 after senior guard Virgil Gray made one of two from the line. On the next possession, Utica's Patterson hit two fouls shots to give the Pioneers a one-point advantage.

With 2:10 remaining and the score tied for the eighth time in the game at 63-all, Smith hauled in one of his seven offensive rebounds, was fouled on the put-back attempt and made one of two to give the Ducks a 64-63 lead with 1:23 left.

That free throw would be the last point for Stevens as Utica made Stevens pay from charity stripe, hitting six-straight attempts to end the game on a 6-0 run. Herring went 4-for-4 in that stretch and ended the contest making nine of his 10 free-throw attempts. In that final minute, Stevens committed two turnovers and missed a very tough running jump shot to seal its fate.

All-in-all, there were nine ties and 10 lead changes in the game's 40 minutes of action. Each team committed 21 personal fouls and attempted 25 free throws, with Utica making 21 and Stevens hitting on 14.

The Ducks ended the day shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and were 6-for-18 from deep. Stevens finished with a 38-34 rebounding edge but committed 11 second-half turnovers compared to 11 total turnovers for Utica.

In addition to Herring's big day, Utica was led by 14 points and four rebounds from junior forward Patrick Goodman (Marcy, N.Y.).

The only other player in double figures for Stevens was Passalacqua. He finished with 12 points and two boards, and senior Michael Baker had six points, seven rebounds, and five assists.

The Ducks will return to action next Friday evening at 8 p.m. when they visit Elmira College.
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