UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team dropped an 82-74 decision against visiting Morrisville State on the hardwood at the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium on Tuesday night.  Four different players scored in double digits for the Pioneers, including 12 points from both Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) and Stephen Gall (Bronx, NY/Benjamin Banneker), 11 points from senior Jawan Simmons (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) and 10 points from sophomore Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick).

Utica's record fell to 0-2 on the year, while Morrisville remained unblemished at 2-0.  UC returns to the hardwood on Friday when it travels to the Hilbert Tip-Off Tournament to take on RPI in non-conference action (6 p.m.).

The Pioneers used an 8-0 run to put a dent in their 60-47 deficit and trailed by as few as five points, 60-55, with 7:04 remaining in the contest, but the visiting Mustangs answered with a 9-0 run of their own to take back a 14 point advantage with 3:45 left in regulation. The Pioneers were able to crawl back to within six points with less than one minute to go, but that was as close as they would get as the Mustangs came away with the eight point victory.

The Mustangs led the entire contest and pushed out to a 21 point advantage, 34-13, with 7:00 to go in the first half of play.   Utica then went on a 16-1 run in the next 3:25 to cut the Morrisville lead to just six points, 35-29, with 3:25 to go in the first half of play. The visitors were able to extend their lead back to nine points and took a 40-31 advantage into the locker room at half. 

Freshman Devin Wilkerson (Germany/Apo Armed Forces-Europe) has now scored nine points in each of his first two collegiate games and he also added five rebounds for the Pioneers. Sophomore Mike Cannizzo (Mechanicville, NY/Mechanicville) also chipped in with seven points. Freshman Troy Edwards (Yonkers, NY/Palisade Prep) came off the bench and scored four points on 2-for-2 shooting from the floor.  Freshman Seamus McHugh (Latham, NY/Shaker) totaled five points while Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) added six rebounds and a bucket for Utica.

Morrisville's Trent Ward shot 6-of-9 from the field and scored a game-high 19 points while Joe Hulbert added 18 points and four assists. Morrisville shot 51.8% from the floor as a team in the contest, compared to the Pioneers' 39.1% showing.