ROCHESTER, NY - The Utica University men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in the championship game of the Chuck Resler Tournament, to the host University of Rochester, by a score of 103-80 on Saturday evening.
Leading the way for the Pioneers was Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy), whose 17 points pushed the senior guard over the 1,000 career point milestone, becoming the 21st player in program history to hit the scoring mark. Another trio of Pioneers finished in double scoring figures in Ryan McCardle (Hurley, NY/Kingston) (12pts, 4-5FG, 4-5 3PT), Keyaton Parks (Albany, NY/Green Tech High Charter) (10pts, 4-6FG, 2-3 FT), and Isaiah Smith (Amsterdam, NY/Schalmont) (10pts, 5-5 FG). Parks led the Pioneers' rebounding efforts with nine rebounds, while Jordan Cain (Syracuse, NY/West Genesee) followed with four. Thompson added to his evening with a team high four assists, while Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) and Ben Wittman (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) each dished out a pair. On defense, Cain registered a team high pair of steals, while McCardle tallied a pair of blocks.
Utica came out swinging, punching in the first two buckets of the night on a Thompson layup and a Cain drive, then stretching it to 7–2 when Thompson stepped into a three. Rochester answered quickly at the rim and from deep, helping the Yellowjackets close to 9–7 and then surge in front 10–9. The middle of the half turned into a back-and-forth three-point contest: McCardle canned a transition three to tie it at 12–10, Thompson and Cain kept attacking the paint, and a Barasa triple plus a Smith layup helped erase a 26–19 deficit. Utica clawed all the way back to a 32–28 lead after a Thompson fast-break finish, but Rochester owned the final four minutes. Rochester combined for three straight threes in a decisive stretch, and despite a McCardle answer from deep, a Rochester triple in the final seconds sent the Pioneers to the locker room trailing 44–39.
Utica tried to spark a comeback out of halftime with two Thompson free throws to make it 44–41, but Rochester detonated the game with a huge perimeter run. Rochester buried four threes in barely two minutes, turning a one-possession game into a 56–43 margin and then 62–43 by the 15:29 mark. McCardle briefly stemmed the tide with another three, Parks followed with a tip-in, and Smith and Cain kept driving for twos, but every Utica push was met with another Rochester answer which pushed the lead into the 20s. The Pioneers kept competing to the horn, Zyon Lord (Bronx, NY/Salisbury School) finished in transition, Parks threw down a dunk, and late buckets from Joshua Sand (Beekmantown, NY/Beekmantown), Zach Petucci and Frank Liriano (Sarasota, FL/Sarasota) rounded out the scoring, but Rochester's second-half shooting spree proved too much to overcome as Utica fell, 103–80.
Utica (2-1, 0-0 Empire 8) returns to action on Wednesday, November 19 as the team remains on the road to take on the SUNY Morrisville Mustangs. Tip off from Morrisville, NY is set for 6pm.
