UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team will look to avenge an earlier season loss to SUNY Poly when the team meets the Wildcats on the road on Tuesday. The non-conference battle will tip-off at 7 p.m.
Follow Along: SUNY Poly will provide live video and stats on Tuesday through
https://portal.stretchinternet.com/polywildcats/.
Last Time Out: Through a closely contested game, UC was able to keep control of the Russell Sage Gators over the course of the contest for a 65-58 win to improve to 7-1 in Empire 8 play. The Gators came out with a spark over the first two minutes of the game, jumping out to a 6-0 lead with just over 18 to play in the first. The Pioneers responded with a quick 14-3 run with six of the points coming from guard
Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton)). However, the biggest bucket of the run came from a
Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) layup to make it a 14-9 game. The basket marked the 1,000th point of Lufkin's career. From Lufkin's milestone bucket and on, Utica never trailed in the game again.
Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) netted 10 of the next 21 Pioneer points to close the half with the team ahead 35-30. In the second frame, UC remained in control however, Sage never let its deficit crawl to more than nine points until three minutes remaining in the game. It was then that Lufkin buried a three and
Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) came back with a breakaway layup to put the Pioneers ahead 62-49. While Sage came back within six points with 16 seconds left,
Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley) was able to connect on a free throw to put the game away and move UC to 13-3 overall and 7-1 in conference action.
On the Back Nine: While having already played Sage twice and everyone else in the E8 once, with the exception of Keuka, UC is now looking at its final eight conference games of the season. At 7-1, the Pioneers are second in the Empire 8 standings behind only 8-0 No. 25 Nazareth College. UC will be able to control home court advantage moving forward with still one game to be played against Nazareth on February 11 which Utica would have to win to have a chance of earning the top-seed in the conference tournament.
Milestone Reached: With his first half basket against Sage on Saturday,
Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) became the 15th player in program history to reach 1,000 points. Currently at 1,003 points, Lufkin is 74 points away from entering the top-10 for most career points in program history. Lufkin also finds himself third in program history with 179 three-pointers made and is six more away from passing Scott Clarke '96 for second.
Next on the List: Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) is looking to follow Lufkin as the next 1,000 point scorer in program history. Currently at 934 career points, Hopkins will need just 66 points over his last nine games to become the 16th member of the 1,000 point club. On the season the guard is averaging 11.7 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting from the field. Over his last four games, Hopkins has put up 17 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting from the field (24-44).
Ole Reliable: Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley) has been a key asset off of the bench all season for UC. In 16 games the senior has averaged 22.7 minutes per outing while offering 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team high 35 assists on the season. Earlier this month the forward notched a career-high six assists in UC's win over Hartwick.
About Poly: The Wildcats are 14-7 overall this year, 9-1 in the North Atlantic Conference and have gone 6-3 since defeating the Pioneers on January 3. As a team, Poly is averaging 78.2 points per game on 47.6 percent shooting while at home the team averages 83.9 points per game on 48.2 percent shooting. Josh Gregory still remains one of the top-scorers in Division III as the Whitesboro graduate is 11th in the country averaging 22.9 points per game. Jesse O'Dell and LJ Randle, former high school teammates of one another, are the other two Wildcats averaging double figures in points. O'Dell has put up 15.4 per game while Randle adds 10.6 points from the point.
We Meet Again: Poly got the best of UC on January 3 from Miga Court with a 73-58 win. While Utica held Gregory to 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting, Poly had four others score 10-plus points while the team shot a solid 41.2 percent from the floor while also going 13-for-16 from the free throw line. The Pioneers were not able to shake a poor shooting night that consisted of 38 percent from the floor and a hair over 25 percent from three while 15 turnovers led to an extra 11 Wildcat points.
Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian),
Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle),
Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and
Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) combined for 51 of Utica's 58 points in the game.
Up Next: UC will return to Empire 8 play on Friday when the team travels to Keuka Park, NY for its first of two games against the Keuka Wolves this season. Tip-ff is set for 7:30 p.m.
