ONEONTA, NY – Five different Pioneers scored in double figures as the Utica College men's basketball team earned a key 90-83 Empire 8 Conference victory over host Hartwick College on Tuesday night.  Senior point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) propelled himself into seventh on the College's all-time scoring list after his team-high 21 point effort.  Nevins now has 1,093 career points.

Utica has now won three of its last four games and improved to 7-10 overall and 3-5 in Empire 8 play. Hartwick dropped its fourth straight contest as its record moved to 8-8 overall and 3-4 in conference play. 

Utica's Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half, while senior Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) also had a big second half netting 13 of his 17 points in the final 20 minutes. Utica shot 61.5% from the floor in the second half, including a 9-for-13 effort from behind the arc.

The score was knotted at 17-17 with 6:52 to go in the first half until the Pioneers used a 19-8 run in the next 6:34 to close out the first half with a double digit lead, 38-28.

Utica took its largest lead of the game early in the second half, 43-31, but the home team responded quickly with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to four points with 16:50 to go. UC pushed its lead back to eight points, 53-45, after a 3-pointer from Maisch, but Hartwick answered once again with a 10-2 run to tie the score at 55-55 with 11:37 left in regulation.

Utica then went on a 13-4 run in the next 1:51 of play to earn a nine point advantage with 8:46 left. Hartwick cut Utica's lead to as few as four points with 2:20 remaining but it proved to be too late as the Pioneers made five clutch free throws down the stretch and earned the seven point victory.

Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) netted 11 points and grabbed five rebounds for Utica. Jeffers now needs 53 more points to become the 15^th player in program-history to net 1,000 career points.

Freshman forward Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) posted 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor, while senior guard Rich Smith (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) added a season-high seven points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor.

Hartwick's Matt Wilson led the way for the Hawks with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Jake Sinicki added 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Hawks.

The Pioneers bench came to play as UC's reserves outscored the Hawks bench 43-19 on the afternoon.  Utica also added 14 points off of turnovers, 12 of which came in the first half.  

UC returns home on Friday night when the Pioneers host Elmira College at 8 p.m