The Utica College men's basketball team led by as many as nine points, 50-41, midway through the second half, but host Cortland answered with a 30-11 run over the course of the final 11:41 of play to earn a 71-61 victory over the Pioneers in non conference play on Wednesday night. Junior guard James Patterson finished the evening with a game-high 25 points and five assists, while Pat Goodman added 14 points. Junior Will Abrams totaled 11 points for the Pioneers.

Cortland improved to 5-2 overall after the ten point victory, while the Pioneers have now lost two straight and dropped to 4-3 overall.

The Pioneers caused 20 turnovers, which resulted in 22 points, but only three players scored more than five points in the loss.

The first half was a back and forth battle that featured eight ties and the Red Dragons led by one, 34-33, at the half.

Cortland shot out to a six point lead, 41-35, 3:47 into the second half of play but the Pioneers were not done yet. UC answered with a 15-0 run over the course of 4:32 to take a commanding nine point lead with 11:41 to go in the contest.

Unfortunately the Pioneers were only able to muster 11 more points in the final 11 minutes of play as they dropped the non conference contest.

UC returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Oneonta State. The contest is scheduled to tip off at 4 p.m.

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