UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team lost to visiting Empire 8 Conference opponent Hartwick College 78-65 on Tuesday night. Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) scored a game high 22 points, while Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) scored 17 points and had a team high nine rebounds.
 
Utica's record fell to 3-8 overall and 0-3 in Empire 8 play. The Pioneers return to action on Friday night at 6 p.m. when they take on Elmira College in the second of three conference home games. Hartwick improved to 8-4 overall and is now 3-0 in conference play.
 
The Hawks had four players score 10 or more points and were led by Jake Sinicki who had 17 points, while Joey Lufkin was second on the team and tallied 16 points.
 
Hartwick had a 16 point lead with 4:13 left in the first before Utica had a 36-16 run over 14:29 to take a four point lead off of a Tutein layup with 9:46 left to go in the second half. Hartwick outscored Utica 24-9 to finish out the game.
 
Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science) was the only other player to get over double digits and tallied 11 points for the Pioneers. Dylan Drexler (Rochester, NY/Greece Olympia) played in his third game for UC and had an eight-point performance.