Utica, NY (2-15-13) – The Utica College men's basketball team (10-13, 6-6 Empire 8) wraps up the regular-season on the road this weekend against Empire 8 rivals Ithaca and Elmira College's.

Weekend Schedule: UC will travel to Ithaca College Friday to square off against the top-ranked Bombers at the Ben Light Gymnasium and then head to Elmira College on Saturday to challenge the Soaring Eagles … Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. on Friday night and 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

Pioneers Look to Stay Hot: Utica is coming off back-to-back home wins versus Hartwick and Houghton Colleges and looks to continue its hot streak heading into the final weekend of the regular-season … The Pioneers have won three-of-four and five-of-seven losing only to Fisher and Ithaca, on the road … Over those seven games, the squad has averaged 81 points while allowing 77 points per contest.

The Everyday 5: Junior Connor Maisch leads the UC offense and is the nation's leader in three-point shooting at 52.4% … He also leads the conference in 3-point shooting and is second in scoring (16.6 p/pg) … Senior Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) is second on the team averaging 12.7 points per game while junior Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) is third with 12.3 points per contest … Jeffers ranks second in the conference in rebounds per game with 8.9 as well as second in field goal percentage (59.1%) … Sophomore guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) leads the squad and is sixth in assists with 4.1 per contest ... Senior Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School) has a team-best 27 blocks while averaging 8.0 points and 5.0 boards a game.

Playoff Picture: Nationally-ranked No. 24 Stevens Institute of Technology (20-3, 10-2 E8) sits atop the Empire 8 Conference standings with a 10-2 mark after routing Ithaca last Saturday, 87-65 … The Ducks wrap up the season on the road against Alfred and Fisher … Ithaca College (16-7, 8-4 E8) occupies second place with a 9-3 ledger in league play and will face the Pioneers Friday and Nazareth Saturday on its home court … St John Fisher College (15-8, 8-4) currently holds the third spot solely with an 8-4 record in the conference and concludes the regular-season against Hartwick and Stevens … Utica (10-13, 6-6 E8) and Nazareth (14-9, 6-6 E8) presently share the fourth and final spot with an 6-6 record … UC will face Ithaca and Elmira while Naz will host Elmira on Friday and then travel to Ithaca on Saturday … The standings round out with Hartwick (12-11, 4-8 E8) in sixth, Elmira (6-17, 3-9 E8) in seventh and Alfred (6-17, 2-10 E8) in the final slot.

Championship Weekend: The Empire 8 Conference playoffs start next Friday, Feb. 22nd … The semifinal round is scheduled for Friday and the Championship game on Saturday …. More details are forthcoming following this weekend's contests.