UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's basketball team celebrated its seniors with a proper regular season finale this afternoon. The Pioneers defeated the visiting Houghton College Highlanders 77-55 to secure another 22-win season and enter postseason play on a four-game winning streak. 
 
Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) and Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) led the team with 15 points each, Morreale doing so to pair with his three rebounds and steals while Brantley tallied six rebounds, two assists and two steals as well. Avery Coston (Kerhonkson, NY/Rondout Valley), 14 points, and Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian), 13 points, finished in double-figures also. Coston knocked down three of six three-pointers taken and collected eight boards and a pair of blocks. 
 
The Pioneers went wire-to-wire in the game as the closest Houghton got was tying the game at 6-6 early in the first. Brantley and Morreale started red-hot before Coston scored six in a row for a 12-6 Utica lead. 
 
After a pair of buckets by Brantley, Coston drained back-to-back three's to extend the team's lead to 22-11. The Highlanders didn't back down easily though as the team went from down by 11 to down by five with under eight minutes to go in the first. Although the Pioneers jumped back out by 12, the game eventually entered halftime with Utica hanging on to a three point lead at 33-30. 
 
However, Utica came out firing in the second half. A quick 10-0 run was fueled by five Brantley points, a three-pointer by Morreale and a free throws by Hopkins for a 43-30 advantage. 
 
This time around the Pioneers denied Houghton of any chance to climb back into the game to go on and take the regular season finale by 22 points. 
 
Utica (22-3, 17-1 Empire 8) will await the winner of the four vs. five match-up between the fourth-seeded St. John Fisher Cardinals and the fifth-seeded Hartwick College Hawks. The Pioneers' semifinal contest is set for 5:30 p.m. on Friday from Miga Court.