Hamburg, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team erased a 31-27 halftime deficit and topped RPI 72-63 in the opening game of the Hilbert Tip-Off Tournament on Friday night. Utica used a 12-1 run in the second half to turn a 10-point deficit into a one point lead and the Pioneers never looked back in the season opening victory. 

Utica sophomore point guard Shawn Gashi (Central Square, NY/Bishop Grimes) led the Pioneers with 15 points, while classmate Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley) knocked down four 3-pointers on his way to 12 points.  Tyller Jollie added 14 points and freshman Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) posted 12 points in his collegiate debut. 

Utica has now won two consecutive season openers and improved to 1-0 on the year.  It was also RPI's season opening contest as they fell to 0-1 and will head to Saturday's consolation game. 

UC returns to the court on Saturday for the championship game where the Pioneers will square off against the winner of tonight's Hilbert/Waynesburg contest.  Saturday's championship game begins at 3 p.m.

With RPI leading 49-39 after a Jeffrey Coulter three-pointer five minutes into the second half, Utica's Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) registered the next six points before a pair of teammates buried three point shots and the Pioneers led, 51-50, with 11:19 to play. A jumper by Andreas Kontopidis put the Engineers back in front by a point, but Hopkins scored in the paint to start a 12-0 spurt for a 62-52 edge six minutes later. 

Rensselaer's Kevin Davis ended the string with a three-point shot, which was followed by a pair of free throws by Patrick Mahoney to get the Engineers to within five points (62-57). Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley) answered with a three pointer with four minutes remaining and the Engineers were held off the board until Mahoney connected in the paint to make the score 65-59 with 1:43 to play. 

Justin Strielkauskas (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) poured in seven points and grabbed six boards, while Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) chipped in with seven points. Utica's largest lead of the contest was 10 points and came with 6:05 left in regulation. Utica received 24 points from its bench on the evening. 

Mahoney led the Engineers with 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting, along with eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. Marcus Giese scored 13 points with seven rebounds and Kontopidis scored a dozen with four blocked shots for the Engineers.