Utica, NY - The 14-4 (5-2 Empire 8) Utica College men's basketball team returns home Tuesday night for an Empire 8 conference matchup against the Hartwick Hawks. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m at Miga Court.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers notched a 75-65 road victory over host Alfred University on Saturday afternoon. This marked two-straight conference wins for the Pioneers, as they topped Houghton Friday night by a final score of 80-73. The underclassmen showed up in full force for this contest. Freshman forward Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) led the team in scoring for the second game in a row, finishing with a team-high 14 points. The Whitesboro high school product also added six rebounds and two blocks, a team-best he shared with sophomore Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton). Freshman guard Brett Talbert (Deer Park, NY/Knox School) served as the facilitator of the offense at the point as he's done all season, dishing out a game-high six assists in addition to his 13 points. Sophomore guard Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) finished with 12 points for the second consecutive game, while junior guard Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) netted 10 points of his own. UC overcame a slow start in this contest, as Alfred jumped out to an early 10-point advantage (14-4) at the 13:06 mark. The Pioneers came roaring back and took a 37-36 lead heading into the half. Halftime adjustments clearly paid off, as Utica outscored Alfred 27-12 en route to holding a 64-48 advantage with just under seven minutes left to play. UC held onto this lead for the duration to secure its fifth conference win of the season. Utica dominated in two categories, fast break points and bench points, which proved to be a big difference-maker in this matchup. The Pioneers doubled Alfred with 19 fast break points, while their bench combined for 29 points. Alfred's bench players only accounted for 13 points on the afternoon. Freshman forward Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) made solid contributions off the bench, matching Morreale's team-high with six rebounds coupled with eight points in only 12 minutes of work.

Where We Stand: The Pioneers have the best overall record in the Empire 8, and they currently sit at third in the conference with a 5-2 E8 record.

Previous Matchup: UC beat Hartwick earlier this season on Jan. 11 by a score of 75-65, marking the Pioneer's third conference win of the season. Senior forward Hunter Remley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) caught fire in this game, netting a season-high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting from downtown. Seven 3s marked a career-high for the sharpshooter.

Best in the Nation: UC ranks fourth in the nation and first in the conference in 3-point percentage, shooting 41 percent so far this season. Sophomore guard Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) leads the way for this team from downtown, shooting a team-best 44.3 percent. Freshman forward Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and junior guard Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) sit right behind Hopkins, shooting a 43.1 and 42 percent clip from 3-point land, respectively. 

Team Effort: This year's squad leads the Empire 8 in all of the following categories:

Points per game (83.6)
Field goals made (509)
3-point percentage (41.0 %)
Free throw percentage (73.1%)
Defensive rebounds per game (27.9)
Defensive rebounds (503)

Leaving No Doubt: The 2019-20 Pioneers also lead the Empire 8 in margin of victory, averaging a spread of 10.1 points per game.

Sharing The Rock: At this point in the season, four different Pioneers are averaging double-digit scoring figures: Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) (12.9), Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) (12.6), Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) (10.8) and Brett Talbert (Deer Park, NY/Knox School) (10.0).

Young Guns: Freshman Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) is currently the second-leading scorer on this team. Morreale is averaging 12.6 points per game, and he is also the second-leading rebounder on the team with 108 boards so far. Another Freshman in Brett Talbert (Deer Park, NY/Knox School) has done a little bit of everything as well for this team, averaging 10 points per game while totaling team-highs in steals (19) and assists (43).

Block Party: Junior center Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) is currently tied for 38th in the nation and ranks first in the Empire 8 in blocks with 35 (1.94 per game) while totaling 149 rebounds (8.3 per game) thus far, which ranks atop in the Empire 8. The 6-foot-8 center is also adding 8.2 points per game for the Pioneers.

Free Throws: Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) has been lights out from the charity stripe, as he is currently shooting 83.8 percent (57-for-68) on his free throws. This percentage currently leads the conference.

Dominating History: The Pioneers have won four of the last five matchups against Hartwick spanning over the last three seasons.

Scouting Hartwick: The Hawks currently rank fifth in the Empire 8, one spot removed from qualifying for the conference tournament, with an 11-7 overall record and 3-4 E8 record. Five players do the bulk of the work for this team, all of whom are averaging 12-plus points per game: Pat Garey (14.8), Austin Haskell (12.9), Kyle Bradshaw (12.6), Tommy Kelly (12.3) and Bobby Connors (12.2). Both Haskell and Bradshaw lead the team in the rebounding category, averaging 7.0 and 6.8 per game.

Up Next: The Pioneers head back on the road for a matchup against Elmira on Saturday at 2 p.m.