CLINTON, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team led at the half, but undefeated Hamilton College outscored the Pioneers 33-21 in the second half on its way to a 67-59 victory in the opening round of the 2014 Hamilton Invitational on Saturday night. Utica's Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) led the Pioneers with 15 points, including a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point land. 

Utica's record moved to 2-3 on the season and the Pioneers will now square off against St. Lawrence on Sunday at 12 p.m. Hamilton improved to 5-0 on the year.

The Pioneers came out of the gates hot and after a Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) lay-up 5:56 into the game, Utica found itself with a seven point lead, 17-10, early on.  Jeffers finished the day with 13 points and nine rebounds for Utica.

Hamilton responded and tied the contest four times before the end of the 1^st half, until the Pioneers pushed late in the half and took a four point advantage into the locker room.

The Continentals took the lead back from Utica midway through the second half and used a 9-2 run in a span of 3:07 late in the contest to take a nine point advantage with 1:36 to go in the game. 

The Pioneers were held to just 7-for-27 shooting in the second half (25.9%), while the Continentals went 13-for-24 (54.2%) in the final 20 minutes.  Karl Koster and Joseph Lin each netted a team-best 12 points for the Continentals. 

Marty Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) grabbed eight rebounds for UC, while Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) totaled 11 points, all of which came in the first half of play. Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) came off the bench and nailed two 3-pointers for Utica, while Griffin Kelly (Watervliet, NY/Watervliet) and Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) each added four points.