UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's basketball team is set to host Hamilton College on Thursday, December 7 at 7 p.m.
 
Follow Along: Those unable to attend can tune in for live video and/or stats here.
 
Last Time Out: The team topped Houghton University 91-74 last Saturday afternoon to collect its first Empire 8 victory of the season. Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy) led the team with 21 points and three rebounds with Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) pouring in 20 points, two rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and one steal as he filled out the stat sheet. Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) continues to put the ball in the basket and crash the glass this season with 14 points, nine rebounds, six assists, and one steal on the afternoon. Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was efficient, scoring 12 points with six rebounds and four assists on 5-for-10 shooting. Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) corralled a career-high 11 boards and also dropped six points and was giving Utica a reliable rebounder all afternoon. Houghton began the contest up 6-2 yet buckets by Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) and Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy) gave Utica a 7-6 lead. After trailing 11-9, Thompson took over scoring seven points during a strong stretch for the Pioneers and helped grow the team's lead to 20-13. The Highlanders would continue to exchange buckets with Utica trailing just 22-20 yet the Pioneers used a six-point run to grab a 28-20 advantage as Liam Teague (Guilderland, NY/Guilderland) had four points during the span. Utica's offense continued to score and a Brantley layup helped the Pioneers take a 48-36 edge into the half. The teams exchanged buckets to open the second half with Houghton trimming the lead to single digits after a triple. The Highlanders cut the deficit to just seven yet this ignited a strong run by Utica as Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) and Luke Bourgault (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute) helped push the lead to 64-50 halfway through the quarter. The Pioneers would not look back as it played phenomenal on both sides of the ball and closed out the game efficiently keeping its lead in double-digits. Houghton threatened a few times, cutting the lead to 11 yet the Pioneers closed the game out on an 8-2 edge run to hang on for a 91-74 win and collect its first Empire 8 victory of the season.
 
Running it Up: The Pioneers have been dominant on both sides of the ball this year, ranking towards the top of the conference in multiple categories. Utica's 81.3 points per game rank second in the Empire 8 while its defense has been superb allowing just 68.8 points per game with its average margin of 12.5 leading the conference. The team's offense has been shooting at a 48.5 clip for the season which is second in the Empire 8. The Pioneers also rank top-three in other various categories such as blocked shots, assists, and steals. 
 
Balanced Attack: Utica has a trio of premier scorers in Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy), Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill), and Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) who each average at least 13.6 points per game thus far. Thompson is averaging a fantastic 16.5 points per game which is tied for seventh in the conference with Brantley's 15.3 and Call's 13.6 both ranking top-13 in the conference. The balanced attack has made Utica very hard to match up with offensively especially with Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy), Luke Bourgault (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute), and Thoms Morreale all being fine other scoring options each averaging over 7.5 points per game. 
 
Give Call the Ball: Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) was fantastic this week turning in two of his career-best performances including an unbelievable 17 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, and three steals against Ithaca College. The senior followed this up with another strong performance with 20 points, two rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and one steal and played a crucial role in the team topping Houghton University to earn its first Empire 8 victory of the new campaign.
 
Scouting Hamilton: The Continentals are 2-5 this season and 0-0 in NESCAC play. The team fell to the University of Rochester in its last game 82-60 on Sunday, December 3. The team is led by a trio of fantastic scorers who each average more than 14.7 points per game in Hank Morgan, Garret Keyhani, and Teja Singh. The group is also great at stretching the court with each nailing at least 12 three-pointers this season while all shooting above .308 percent from beyond the arc. Garrett and Jalen Reese are two fine shot blockers each rejecting 10 shots thus far with Morgan, Owen Kane, and Christian McDaniel each recording eight steals this season.

Up Next: The team will travel to face SUNY Cortland on Saturday, December 16 at 2 p.m.