Box Score
Stevens 102, Utica 66 - Men's Basketball Final

Hoboken, NJ (2/22/2013) – The Utica College men's basketball team closed out its 2012-13 campaign with a loss in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament semifinals against top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday night at Canavan Arena.  The Ducks shot 59% from the floor and 64% from behind the arc on their way to a convincing 102-66 victory. 

UC (12-14 overall) was led by 12 points apiece from senior Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville), and juniors Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) and Connor Maisch.  Sophomore point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) also chipped in with 10 points for the Pioneers.  Maisch, who entered the contest leading the country in 3-point field goal percentage, will finish his junior campaign shooting 52.8% (26 games, 85-161) from behind the arc which is a new Empire 8 Conference single season record.  Maisch broke Nazareth's Mark Renkas' single season record originally set back in 1998-99 when Renkas shot 52.3 percent (26 games, 46-88).

Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year Sheldon Jones proved that he deserved the title by knocking down 14-of-19 from the field and 6-of-8 from 3-point land on his way to scoring 38 points for the Ducks.  Big man Patrick Sabatino grabbed a game-high 20 rebounds and he chipped in with 11 points. 

Stevens (22-4), which recently dropped out of the nation's top-25 according to d3hoops.com, will now take on either St. John Fisher or Ithaca in Saturday's Empire 8 Conference Championship game.

Utica led 21-20 after a Baldwin 3-pointer with 8:04 left to go in the first half of play but Stevens fired right back with a 3-pointer of their own and never looked back from that point forward.  Over the course of the final eight minutes of the first half the Ducks outscored UC 28-10 to take a 48-32 lead into the locker room at the intermission. 

The home team did not let down in the second half as the Ducks extended their lead to as many as 37 points with under three minutes to play. 

Utica's Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School) finished his fine career with seven points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, while sophomore Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) added six points and three boards. The Pioneers were making their first conference tournament appearence since 2008-09.