Box Score

Elmira, NY – The Elmira College Men's Basketball team outscored visiting Utica in the second half but it was not enough as Elmira fell, 88-84, Saturday afternoon in Speidel Gymnasium. The win improves the Pioneers to 12-13 overall and 8-6 in Empire 8 play, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 6-19 and 3-11.
 
Utica got out to a quick 10-2 start three minutes in and led by as many as 12 in the first half. The Soaring Eagles closed the deficit a bit as Utica had a comfortable 47-39 lead at intermission. Both teams were shooting well from the field as the Pioneers converted on 54 percent of its attempts, while Elmira shot 48 percent.
 
The Purple and Gold opened the second half on a 12-5 run to get within 52-51 five minutes in. Utica responded with a 6-0 run to take a 58-51 lead. The Pioneers led the remainder of the contest but Elmira got within just one point at 85-84 after a Derrick Vogel '14 old fashioned three point play with 13 seconds left.
 
On the ensuing possession Utica split a pair of free throw attempts clinging to an 86-84 lead. Vogel brought the ball down the floor and made his way into the paint before looking to find classmate Chris Cassidy '14, but the ball was knocked away by a Utica defender. Chris Jeffers made two free throws for the Pioneers to seal the 88-84 victory.
 
Cassidy finished with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds on 10-for-15 shooting. Neil Randolph '15 added 18 points hitting seven of his eight shot attempts, while Vogel tallied a remarkable 16 points, career-high 12 assists and six rebounds. Elmira held a big 52-38 points in the paint advantage.
 
Jeffers led five different scores in double figures for the Pioneers as he finished with 21 points. Aaron Nevins (19), Matt Baldwin (17), Connor Maisch (14) and Marion Lewis (13) all had big scoring outputs for Utica.
 
This concludes the 2012-13 season for the Men's Basketball team. Stay up to date with the latest news directly from the Elmira College Athletics department by “liking” us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ElmiraCollegeAthletics) and “following” our Twitter account (http://twitter.com/ECSoaringEagles).