Utica, NY (Feb. 13, 2014) – The Utica College men's basketball team returns to the hardwood fresh off of a Tuesday night victory when the Pioneers attempt to give host Alfred University its first home loss of the season on Valentine's Day at 6 p.m. The Pioneers will stay on the road to face the Ithaca Bombers Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2p.m.

Meet The Pioneers: Utica looks to build a winning streak after snapping a seven game slide with a win against Houghton College on Tuesday night … The Pioneers are currently 7-14 overall and 1-10 in Empire 8 Conference action … Utica's last win was an 80-71 victory over Houghton College Tuesday night… Five different Pioneers scored at least nine points… Junior Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) led the Pioneers with 16 points and fellow junior Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) added 14 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc … Junior big man Marty Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) added nine points, 14 rebounds and a career-best six blocks… UC is 3-0 all-time against Houghton… Utica has struggled in conference matchups this season, going 1-10 against Conference opponents… Utica is averaging 77.3 points per game, fourth in the Conference… Utica's 14.1 assists per game is third in the Empire 8.

Nevins is Having a Banner Year: Junior point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) is fourth in the Conference with a career-best average of 16.8 points per game … He also ranks fourth in the Empire 8 with an average of 3.9 assists per game … He also ranks ninth in the E8 shooting 46 percent from the floor this season.

Jeffers' Rebounding: Forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) ranks third in the Empire 8 with an average of 8.7 rebounds per game… He also ranks second on the team with 12 points per game… He has six double-doubles this season.

Career Records: Nevins recently moved into seventh place on the College's all-time assist list… Nevins has 270 career assists, surpassing Orlando Dibacco (1992-96)… Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) currently ranks third on the College's career rebounding list with 613 over the course of the last three seasons… He needs 35 more to overtake Mark Carmichael (1987-90) for second all-time.

1,000 Point Club: Nevins needs 156 points to become the 14th player in program-history to score 1,000 or more points in a career … He currently has 844 points in three seasons … The last player to join the 1,000 point club was former UC point guard James Patterson (2007-11), who finished his career with 1,227 points (fifth all-time).

Last Time UC Met Alfred: (1/31/2014) The Pioneers watched a pile of purple jerseys celebrate on the opposite end of the court after losing in heart-breaking fashion… Junior point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) tied the game with nine seconds left, but a missed free throw gave Alfred University one last possession… The Saxons' Ryan Mahon made the game-winning three-pointer as time expired for a final score of 96-93… Alfred used a 21-10 run in the final 5:44 of the game to win... Utica's biggest lead in the game was 13 points early in the second half, but the game was close all along with 10 ties and six lead changes… The Pioneers held the lead for the majority of the game until Alfred took the lead with 2:17 left in the second half… Junior forward Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) scored a career-best 31 points in the loss… Nevins added 23 points… Freshman swingman Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science) led the team with six assists… Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) led the Pioneers with 14 rebounds and senior guard Rich Smith (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) grabbed eight rebounds off the bench.

Utica vs. Alfred: UC is 5-2 against Alfred in the last seven games… Before the last matchup, where Alfred won with a buzzer beater on Jan. 31, the last time the Saxons defeated the Pioneers was on Jan. 8, 2011.

Meet Alfred: The Saxons have won two consecutive games, defeating Empire 8 Conference rivals Stevens Institute of Technology and Hartwick College within the past week… Alfred scored over 100 points in both games… Alfred (16-5, 7-3 E8) is currently second in the Empire 8 behind Stevens (15-7, 9-3 E8)… The Saxons are undefeated at home and 8-5 on the road… Alfred relies on a balanced offense, as six players average at least seven points per game… Thomas Tsatsis leads the Saxons with 13.7 points per game and is second on the team in both rebounds (5.2) and assists (2.4) per game.

Last Time UC Met Ithaca: (1/11/14) The Pioneers won their first Empire 8 Conference matchup of the season after taking down the Ithaca Bombers 87-73 at the Harold T. Clark Athletic Center… Ithaca led for the first five minutes of the game, but UC took the lead and kept it for the remainder of the contest… Four Pioneers scored in double figures, including juniors Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) (19), Marty Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) (12), Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) (11) and senior Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) (14)… Jeffers led UC with five assists and Felicia grabbed seven rebounds to pace the Pioneers… UC made 16 of 17 free throws in the game to maintain the lead.

Utica vs. Ithaca: The Pioneers are 5-4 against Ithaca in the last nine matchups.

Meet Ithaca: The Ithaca Bombers are 6-16 overall and 1-10 in the Empire 8 Conference, tied with Utica for last place… The Bombers will wrap up its four-game home stand at Ben Light Gymnasium against the Pioneers on Saturday… Ithaca has lost the first two games of the home stand against Nazareth (76-64) and St. John Fisher (81-71)… Ithaca's Friday night game against Elmira College will be the Bombers' first game in six days… The Bombers are led by Frank Mitchell and his 16.7 points per game, good for fifth in the Empire 8 Conference… Mitchell is also sixth in the E8 in field goal percentage (50.4) and in rebounds per game (eight)… Sam Bevan is sixth in the Conference with 3.4 assists per game.