UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team returns to action on Tuesday following a weekend split at St. John Fisher and Nazareth. UC will travel to Albany, NY on Tuesday to take on Russell Sage College at 7:30 p.m. before hosting Alfred University at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Houghton College at 4 p.m. on Saturday. 
 
Follow Along: Sage will provide live video and stats on Tuesday through https://portal.stretchinternet.com/sageathletics/ while Friday and Saturday's games can be followed through https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. 
 
Last Time Out: UC fell on the road to Nazareth College 79-39 on Saturday evening. Nazareth came out firing in the first half, converting on 15 of 30 shots for 38 first half points. Utica struggled offensively through the first 20 minutes, shooting 9-for-31 from the field while Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) himself shot 4-for-6 for eight first half points.  The Golden Flyers stayed hot following the break as they out-scored the Pioneers 41-19 in the second half. Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) shot a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-one from three-point over the last 20 minutes of the game. Call led the team with 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Lufkin totaled seven points, all in the second half, as well as three steals. Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) finished the evening with six points and rebounds. 
 
Playing for a Cause: Saturday's game against Houghton College will be the Real Men Wear Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Game. 
 
Answer the Call: Sophomore Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) has continued to be a reliable option off of the bench this year for UC. In 11 games, Call has averaged roughly seven points per outing in 20 minutes of action per contest. He has only shot under 50 percent from the field in one game this year and came in Utica's win over Fisher where he went 1-for-3 from the floor. The 6-foot-4 forward is also the fourth-leading rebounder on the team with 3.9 boards per outing and he has recorded at least one rebound in each game he's appeared in. 
 
Heating Up: Although points were hard to come by on Saturday, Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) is still heating up at the right time. Saturday's game ended his streak of six games in a row with double digit points and averaged 13.8 points per game on 56.6 percent shooting (31-55 FG) over those six games. The guard remains only behind teammate Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) in the conference in three-point percentage, cashing in on 45.3 percent of his attempts. 
 
Scouting Sage: The Gators sit at 8-5 overall and 2-2 in league play following their weekend wins over Alfred and Houghton. The team averages 74.5 points per game on 39.4 percent shooting from the field. Jalon Borders leads the offensive charge as he is fourth in the conference averaging 17.2 points per outing and does so on 40 percent shooting. Borders is also second on the team grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game while Fethener Aime leads the team with 6.6 rebounds per game. 
 
About Alfred: The Saxons enter the week 9-4 overall and 2-2 in the E8. Alfred relies on its 6-foot-8 center, Brewster Marshall, to control the paint with his near double-double average (14.8 PPG, 9.4 RPG) and 17 blocks in nine games. While the offense runs through Marshall and Cole Ells, the entire team is defensive centric as the team allows the fourth-fewest points per game in the E8 at 66.9. They are also tough and aggressive on the boards as the team allows just 35 rebounds a game to the opposition. 
 
A Look at Houghton: The Highlanders (1-11, 1-2 E8) will battle against Fisher on Friday before coming to Utica on Saturday. Four players average double figures in points for Houghton and also combine for an average of 45 of the team's 69.7 points per game. Jordan Holmes leads the team averaging 13.3 points per game on 34.2 percent shooting while teammate Billy McCrae puts up 11.2 points on 47.7 percent shooting. 

Up Next: The Pioneers will host Keystone College in a non-conference matchup on January 25 with tip-off set for 6 p.m.