UTICA, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team looks to keep its winning streak going this weekend against fellow top-tier Empire 8 opponents St. John Fisher and No. 23 Nazareth College. UC will host the Nazareth Golden Flyers on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and the St. John Fisher Cardinals on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. for the team's senior day. 
 
Follow Along: Utica will provide live video and stats for Friday and Saturday's games through https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/
 
Last Time Out: The last time the Pioneers stepped on the court they extended their win streak to eight games after defeating Hartwick College 70-59. A big help to Utica's success was a 17-point outburst from Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy), who brought his average up to 7.1 points per game. Freshman Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) also had a strong outing with eight points while adding a career-high five rebounds. 
 
Senior Night: This Saturday the men's basketball program will celebrate its seniors. Utica will be recognizing Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian), Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle), Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton), Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley), and Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) prior to the game against Fisher. All five members were crucial pieces to last season's conference championship unit and were part of the first full class for Sean Coffey and his coaching staff. 
 
So What's the Scenario: Already having secured a sport in the Empire 8 Tournament, the Pioneers reached another goal this week as the team will be seeded no worse than third, avoiding the No. 4 vs. No. 5 play-in game. Utica controls its own top-seed destiny moving forward which can come by winning out with no other help from other teams. 
 
Hopkins To 1,000: After an 11 point outing against Hartwick, guard Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) is just 20 points away from reaching 1,000 career points as a Pioneer. Averaging 11.7 points per game, Hopkins is on pace to reach the goal on Saturday against Fisher, but keep an eye out for his point totals as the possibility of reaching 1,000 on Friday night is not out of the question. Hopkins had a single-game high this season of 23 points against Houghton College last month.
 
Barasa's Buckets: Over the course of the last few games Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) has been showing a lot of promise as a freshman point guard. Each of his eight points at Hartwick came by way of driving the lane and earning shots at the free throw line with strong finishes at the rim. An underrated element of his game that he brings to the team is his defensive presence when he is out on the floor. Barasa, only averaging about 12 minutes per game, has 12 steals on the season. 
 
Navigating Nazareth: Nazareth is ranked 23rd in the Division III polls with a 19-2 record and an 11-1 record in the Empire 8. The Golden Flyers are coming off of their first and only loss in Empire 8 play after falling to Fisher at home on Tuesday, 87-80. This also marked Nazareth's first loss since November when it fell to RIP 61-60. Nazareth sits right behind Utica in the E8 in points allowed per game, surrendering just 65.8 to opponents while holding teams to 40 percent shooting. Stephen Gabel tops the Golden Flyers averaging 17.5 points per game on the season. Kevin Underwood and Zach Stenglein are also top-10 scorers in the Empire 8. 
 
Finding Fisher: St. John Fisher will enter the weekend 17-5 overall and 11-2 in the E8. The Cardinals are currently riding a four-game winning streak and will look to push it to five against Keuka on Friday before traveling to Miga Court on Saturday. Daniel Cook's 19.5 points per game still tops the conference with one week left to go in the season while running mate Brendan Trapper, who recorded his 1,000th career point on Tuesday, is second in the E8 at 17.9 points per game. The last time the Pioneers faced the Cardinals they pulled out a 63-56 win which marked the first time UC has won back-to-back games against Fisher since taking three straight from 1975-78. 

Looking Forward: After this weekend UC will play its final home game of the regular season on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Keuka College.