Utica, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team (18-7, 9-5 E8) is set for postseason play, as it will take the court Friday night for the opening round of the Empire 8 tournament against the second-seeded St. John Fisher Cardinals at 7:30 p.m. The entirety of the Empire 8 conference tournament will be hosted by the top-seeded Nazareth.

Last Time Out: The Pioneers finished their regular season with a 72-67 loss on the road against Sage Saturday afternoon. Freshman forward Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) made the most of his first-career start in this contest, as he netted a team-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field. This tops Brantley's career-high of 12 points against Elmira on Jan. 10 earlier this season. Junior guard Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) tabbed his third-straight double-digit scoring game, as he finished with 14 points. Sophomore guard Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) was the only other Pioneer to peak the double-digit scoring mark with 10 points of his own coming off the bench. Junior center Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) matched his statline from two Saturdays ago against St. John Fisher with eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Season of Resurgence: UC finished the year with an overall record of 18-7, marking the most wins in a single season since the 2006-07 season. The 2006-07 team also posted 18 wins in its regular season as well. The Pioneers finished conference play with a 9-5 E8 record, which was good enough for the No. 3 seed in the E8 tournament.

Tournament History: This Empire 8 conference tournament appearance marks the program's third in the last four seasons, and it advanced to the conference championship in 2018. The team came two points away from taking home an Empire 8 championship that season, as it fell to Nazareth by a final score of 66-64. The one other appearance outside of this season came in 2017.

The Bracket: Third-seeded Utica is set for its matchup against second-seeded St. John Fisher at 7:30 p.m. Friday night. On the other side of the bracket, tournament host and top-seeded Nazareth will play fourth-seeded Sage at 5:30 p.m. The winner of these two games will meet in the Empire 8 championship Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

Team Effort: This year's squad finished the regular season leading the Empire 8 in all of the following categories:

Points per game (82.2)
3-point percentage (39.4%)
3-point field goals (210)
Free throw percentage (73.1%)
Rebounding Defense (33.8)
Rebounding margin (3.8)
Average margin of victory (9.3)

Sharing The Rock: At this point in the season, three different Pioneers are averaging double-digit scoring figures: Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) (14.3), Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) (12.7) and Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) (10.9).

Young Guns: Morreale is currently the second-leading scorer on the team,  averaging 12.7 points per game. He is also the second-leading rebounder with 136 boards so far. Another freshman in Talbert has done a little bit of everything, averaging 9.7 points per game while totaling team-highs in steals (24) and assists (57). Both players are the only freshmen to crack the top-25 scoring ranks in the Empire 8.

Block Party: Junior center Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) currently ranks second in the Empire 8 in blocks with 43 (1.7 per game) and rebounds with 226 (9.0 per game) thus far. The 6-foot-8 center is also adding 8.8 points per game for the Pioneers.

Free Throws: Junior guard Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) sits atop the Empire 8 with an 87.9 (51-of-58) free throw percentage. Hopkins is right behind him at third in the conference, shooting a clip of 83 (117-of-141) percent.

Scouting Fisher: The Cardinals clinched a share of the regular season E8 title with a win over Nazareth this past Saturday by a final score of 79-75. With this win, they matched Nazareth's conference record of 12-2. Senior Sammy Robinson leads the team with 17.3 points per game, which ranks second in the conference. Senior James Leone is also a key contributor on this team, as he averages 11.1 points per game in addition to a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game.

Track Record: Fisher holds the advantage when it comes to history this season, as it has won both matchups with Utica this season by a very slim margin. Both games were back-and-forth for the duration. The Pioneers fell on Jan. 17 by a final score of 90-80. The most recent matchup on Jan. 17 was the closest game of the year for Utica, as its late-game comeback fell short and Fisher went on to win 84-82. 

Up Next: The conference tournament is a single-elimination, win or go home format. If Utica wins in the opening round, it will play the winner of No. 1 Nazareth and No. 4 Sage in the Empire 8 championship Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.