UTICA, NY – The third seeded Utica College men's basketball team lost to No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology 79-71 in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night at St. John Fisher College.  The Pioneers, who were making their first E8 Tournament appearance since 2013, closed out their season with a 10-16 overall record. 

Utica junior's Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) and Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) led the way for the Pioneers. Iton, who was recently named the Conference's defensive player of the year, finished the night with 20 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.  Taylor shot 10-for-15 from the floor, scored a team-high 22 points and added nine rebounds to cap his junior campaign.

The Ducks opened up an 11 point lead midway through the first half and extended that lead to as many as 19 points, 34-15, with 6:24 to go in the first half of play. The Pioneers would not go down easily and used an 18-6 run in the final 6:02 of the first half to cut their deficit to just seven points, 40-33, as the halftime horn sounded.

The Pioneers cut their lead to five in the opening moments of the second half, but the Ducks used a quick 6-0 run to push its lead back to double-digits, 46-35, with 16:56 remaining in regulation. Utica slowly chipped away at the Stevens lead in the next five minutes and Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) brought the Pioneers to within one possession, 49-46, after a layup with 11:49 to go in the contest.

UC cut the Ducks lead to just three points on three more occasions, but that was as close as they would get. Stevens extended its lead back to 10 points, 67-57, with 5:50 left and the Pioneers responded with another quick run to close the gap to five points, 68-63, with 3:26 to go. The Stevens defense forced four Utica turnovers in a span of less than one minute late in the contest and turned those turnovers into six points to push the lead back to 11 and seal the victory for the Ducks. Stevens made five of six free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Stevens will take on top seeded St. John Fisher College in the E8 Championship Finals on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Utica point guard Bennito Ayarza (Brooklyn, NY/Cayuga Community College) added 12 points and five assists, while Hunter Remley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) capped his freshman season with 11 points. 

Spencer Cook led the Ducks with 25 points, while Ryan Coffey and Patrick Baron each chipped in with 10 points of their own. Stevens netted 23 points off of 16 Utica turnovers.

The Pioneers dominated play in the paint, 46-30, but the Stevens deep bench outscored Utica's 42-4 on the day.