HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 25, 2010) – Sophomore forward Simon Smith scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 75-58 win over the College of Staten Island on Monday night at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. The Ducks were able to open up a 13-point lead at the half and cruised home for the win. Seniors George Greco and Matt Higgins each scored 10 points for the Ducks who improve to 13-4 on the season.
Like last year, when the Ducks went up 14-0 against the Dolphins, Stevens started strong, taking an early 7-0 edge thanks to five quick points from sophomore guard Mike Cutri and a jumper from senior forward Ian Masone.
CSI battled back to make it a two-point game (11-9) with 14:47 to play in the first half, but could never get over the hump as the Ducks began to extend their lead. They outscored CSI 8-3 over the next 4:45 to push the lead to seven, and after the Dolphins trimmed it to five, Stevens went on a 13-2 run over the next 6:20 of game time to open up a 16-point advantage (32-16) with a little less than three minutes remaining in the half. The Dolphins scored three of the final four points before intermission, and the Ducks went into the break with a 33-20 lead.
Smith continued his strong play over the last three games with 13 first-half points, going 5-for-5 from the floor and 3-for-3 at the line. Cutri ended the half with nine points and Greco scored six points and also handed out three assists.
Stevens shot 57.1 percent in the opening 20 minutes and connected on 4-of-6 from long range.
Smith and Higgins gave the Ducks their largest lead (17) with back-to-back layups to open the second and from then on, CSI was unable to get closer than 15 points until there were less than two minutes to play.
Greco and Smith hooked up for a fast-break layup keyed by a Greco steal to give Stevens at 46-24 lead with 14:53 to go and 4:22 later sophomore guard Eric Kessler connected on his second three-pointer of the game to push the Duck advantage to 26, their largest of the game.
From then on, every time the Dolphins made it a 15- or 14-point game, Stevens would get a score or a stop to cruise to the win.
Smith was 9-of-10 from the floor and converted all five of his three-throw attempts. He pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists in his 28 minutes of action. Greco ended with 10 points, six assists, and four steals, and Higgins netted 10 points, pulled down three rebounds, and recorded two thefts. Masone totaled four points and a game-high 10 rebounds, to go along with two blocks and a steal, and Kessler tallied eight points and three rebounds.
Stevens assisted on 19 of its 25 made baskets, ended the game shooting 48.1 percent (25-of-52) from the field, and 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from long range. They hit 20-of-31 from the line and were outrebounded 38-37.
CSI was led by 16 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Jordan Young (Wall, N.J.). Senior forward Christian Montervino (Ewing, N.J.) and sophomore guard Dale Taranto (Staten Island, N.Y.) each scored nine points for the Dolphins (10-9), who came into the game on a four-game winning streak. CSI shot 35.6 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from long range.
Stevens will return to action on Friday and Saturday with a pair of big conference road games. The Ducks will visit St. John Fisher College at 8 p.m. on Friday and Nazareth College at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
