UTICA, N.Y. (January 24, 2015) – A season-high five players scored in double figures to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to an 80-67 Empire 8 road win at Utica College Saturday evening.
With the win, Stevens improves to 5-4 in the Empire 8 and 8-9 overall. Utica drops to 4-5 in the conference and 8-11 overall.
The two teams played even basketball for the first 10 minutes of action, with the Ducks holding a slim 20-19 margin after a Utica three-pointer. From that point, the Ducks went on a 12-3 run over a span of exactly five minutes to open a 32-22 lead at the 5:48 mark of the first. Senior forward
Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) keyed the spurt with seven points, and host Utica was never able to recover.
With 59 seconds left, another Gan layup gave the Ducks their largest lead of the half at 43-27, and the two teams went into the intermission with Stevens holding a 12-point edge (43-31).
Five early points in the second from sophomore guard
Patrick Barron helped the Ducks to a 50-31 advantage with 16 minutes remaining, and a layup from sophomore forward
Otis Osman put the Ducks up 21 with 15:06 left.
Utica would challenge on several occasions, getting within 14 points twice, but the Ducks always had the answer, leading by as many as 25 (76-51) following a mini four-point run from Gan.
Gan scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Ducks with a double-double effort. Barron finished with 16 points on eight shots, and senior forward
Patrick Sabatino joined Gan with a double-double of his own - 12 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Osman finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three helpers, while junior forward
Alex Lorenz poured in 12 points off the bench, adding a trio of rebounds and pair of assists.
Stevens shot 52.5 percent from the floor (32-for-59) and hit seven of 12 attempts from deep. The Ducks were plus-18 on glass, holding a 46-28 margin, and maintained the lead for the final 28:27 of game time.
Utica finished 21-for-56 (37.5 percent) from the field and 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) from three-point land. The Pioneers had 14 assists and 12 turnovers.
Stevens will look to make it two conference road wins in a row when it visits E8 foe Houghton College on January 30.
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