BOX SCORE

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (12/5/2010) – The Utica College men's basketball team trailed for the first 30:30 of the contest, and was behind by as many as nine points early in the second half, but the Pioneers used a 21-10 run in the second half to earn a 64-62 victory over host Skidmore in the Championship game of the Hilton Garden Inn Invitational Sunday.

Senior James Patterson (Poughkeepsie, NY/Poughkeepsie) averaged 22 points, 4.5 rebounds and four assists over the course of two victories on his way to earning the tournament's Most Valuable Player award. Senior swing man Will Abrams (Somerset, NJ/Rutgers Prep School) netted a game-high 20 points in the finals to earn All-Tournament Team honors.

The Pioneers (5-1) have now won two in a row headed into a non conference game at the Clark Athletic Center against Cortland State Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. The Thoroughbreds dropped to 4-2 overall.

Skidmore used a 21-14 run in the first 8:51 of the contest to take a seven point lead midway through the first half of play. The hosts extended that lead to as many as nine with just under five minutes remaining in the first half before the Pioneers went on an 8-4 run in the final five minutes to cut the lead to 36-31 at the half.

Skidmore drilled nine first half 3-pointers and shot nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc to take the lead into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.

The Pioneers went down by as many as nine in the first three minutes of the second half but answered with a 14-4 run in a span of 7:37 to take their first lead of the contest, 49-48, after Abrams nailed a jumper with 9:30 to go in the game.

The next 6:38 of play featured six lead changes and three ties until the Pioneers were able to take the lead for good with 2:52 to go. The Utica defense held Skidmore to just three points in the final 3:22 of play to earn the victory.

Sophomore guard Kevin Johnson added 11 points for Utica while forwards Almir Gredelj (Utica, NY/Proctor) and Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School) combined for nine points and eight rebounds.

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