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Utica, NY (2-19-13) – The Utica College men's basketball team (12-13, 8-6 E8) travels to Hoboken, NJ this weekend for the Empire 8 Conference Tournament hosted by Stevens Institute of Technology … UC went on the road this past weekend and defeated Ithaca and Elmira to clinch the fourth seed and a playoff invitation.

Tournament Details: The tournament will be held at the Canavan Arena on the Stevens' campus … The host Ducks are the No. 1 seed and will tip-off against the No. 4 seed Pioneers at 6 p.m.  … The No. 2 seed, Ithaca College Bombers will play the No. 3 seeded St. John Fisher Cardinals at 8 p.m. … The Empire 8 Championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. 

E8 Final Four: Top-ranked Stevens is currently 21-4 overall and posted an 11-3 record in the conference … The Ducks three conference losses came at the hands of Hartwick, Ithaca and Fisher … No. 2 Ithaca compiled an overall record of 17-8 including a 10-4 mark in league play … The Bombers lost to Elmira, Nazareth and Stevens, on the road, and Utica most recently at home … No. 3 St. John Fisher (17-8, 10-4 E8) finished the regular-season with the same record as Ithaca … The Cardinals are winners of eight-straight and their four conference defeats came against Ithaca twice, St. John Fisher and Nazareth … UC is currently riding the highs of a four-game win streak and have won seven-of-nine over the last month.

Pioneer Report: Junior Connor Maisch is currently the nation's leader in three-point shooting while heading the conference as well with an impressive 53.5 percentage from downtown …  Maisch is also second in the Empire 8 in free-throw percentage (87.7%), fourth in scoring (16.4 p/pg) and sixth in defensive rebounding (5.2 p/g) …  Classmate Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) currently ranks second in the conference in rebounding (8.8 p/g), fourth in field goal percentage (58.1%) and is 15th in scoring (12.7 p/pg) … Senior Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) ranks second in the E8 in minutes (36.0 mp/g), third in steals (26) and fourth in free-throw percentage (89.7) and 3-pointers (32) … Sophomore point-guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) leads the team and is fourth in the league in minutes (35.6 p/g), fifth in assists (4.1 p/g), seventh in free-throws (43) and  14th in scoring (12.6 p/pg) … Sixth-man Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) is averaging 20.1 minutes per contest off the bench and is second in the conference in field goal percentage (57.3%).

Scouting the Ducks: Stevens has been in the D3hoops.com national poll for most of the season however recently dropped out and is receiving votes presently ranked 27th … The Ducks are a perfect 10-0 this season on their home court and swept the regular-season series against UC beating them 72-59 in Utica, NY and 85-77 at home … SIT has won eight-straight against the Pioneers while posting a 9-3 record all-time … Utica last defeated the Ducks back in 2009 sweeping the season-series by a total of 12 points in two games.

UC on the Road: The Pioneers posted an even 6-6 ledger away from home this season and are 30-31 on the road under Coach Connolly dating back to the 2008-09 season … Utica lost to RIT, 65-62, in its last playoff appearance back on Feb. 28th, 2009 in Ithaca, NY.