Utica, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team will play its final game of the season at the friendly confines of the Harold T. Clark Athletic Center this Friday at 8 p.m. The Pioneers will square off against Alfred University in an Empire 8 showdown.

SENIOR NIGHT: ON Friday night the Pioneers will honor their five graduating seniors who are playing in their final game at Utica College …  This group has amassed 39 victories over the last four years and helped lead Utica to the program's first Empire 8 Tournament appearance since 2008-09 …  Senior point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) has played in 98 career games, while starting 97 … His 1,171 career points rank seventh in program history and he is second all-time with 403 assists … Senior Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) has netted 260 points and grabbed 40 rebounds in 46 career games played at UC … He is currently tied for sixth all-time at UC with a .418 three-point percentage … Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) has compiled 1,020 points and 802 rebounds in 98 career games … He is just the third player in program history to score over 1,000 points and add at least 500 rebounds …  Rich Smith (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) has collected 120 points and 87 rebounds in 83 career games played … He has also added 48 assists and 15 steals  … Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) has scored 808 points and added 246 rebounds in 50 career games played … He is tied for fourth in program history in 3-pointers made (149) and 3-point percentage (.496).

PIONEERS WIN SECOND STRAIGHT: UC won its second game in a row after defeating host Houghton College 87-80 in Saturday night … The Pioneers were led by junior guard Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet)'s career-high 33 points on 10-of-15 shooting… Senior Conner Maisch, sophomore Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science), and freshman Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) all added nine points and two assists in the Pioneer victory.

1,000-POINT CLUB: Senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) became the 15^th player in program-history to score 1,000 points in a career and only the third player to score over 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career… Jeffers put up 21 points and 14 rebounds over the weekend to break the thousand point mark… Jeffers is currently 10^th in rebounds (6.8 r/g) and steals (1.2 s/g) in the Empire 8 Conference … Jeffer's joins Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) as the second Pioneer to join the 1,000 point club this season. 

STATISTICAL LEADERS: Senior Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) leads the team with 65 3-pointers…Maisch is 10^th in the country and first in the conference with a 3-point shooting percentage of 46.8 … Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) is 28^th in the country and first in the conference with 116 assists… Jeffers leads the team with 39 offensive rebounds, 125 defensive rebounds, and 28 steals… Junior Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) leads the team with 15 blocks.

SAXON SUMMARY: The Saxons are 9-5 in conference play and 16-7 overall on the season… They are currently in third place in the conference… The Saxons are on a six game winning streak, which includes a one point victory over nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College on Tuesday … The duo of Dalton Walsh and Tyler Seelman rank fifth and sixth in the conference in scoring, respectively … Walsh is averaging 16.3 points per game … Seelman is averaging 15.9 points per game.