ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's basketball teams wraps up play in the 2016-17 regular season on Saturday, February 18th, when the Soaring Eagles flock to Utica, New York, to face the Pioneers of Utica College. The Empire 8 Conference matchup is scheduled to tip off at 4:00 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
In the penultimate game of the season, the Soaring Eagles flew north to face their feathered foes from St. John Fisher College. Although EC never led the Cardinals, they remained in contention until the waning moments of the second half. The efforts of Henry Cuffee '19, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half, allowed Elmira to overcome an early 11-point deficit. In the second half, Hayden Harkins '18 scored 11 points in a row to bring the Soaring Eagles within two points of the Fisher lead, 57-55, with nearly seven minutes remaining in regulation. That was close as EC could come, however, as Cardinal center Keegan Ryan and his career-high 33 points were too much to overcome.

HAYDEN'S HOT HAND
 When junior forward Hayden Harkins '18 is hot from beyond the arc, he can score in bunches. After draining a pair of 3-pointers in the first half, he took over the game in the second half. Immediately after being subbed back into the game, he netted the first two his 15 second-half points with a layup at the 14:14 mark of the half. He then assisted on a 3-ball from Justin Ruback '18, before scoring 11 consecutive points for the Soaring Eagles. Twice he brought EC within two points of the Fisher lead, at 52-50 and 57-55. On the night, the Tampa, Florida, native tied his season high with 21 points to go along with a season-best six rebounds and two dimes. With two more 3-pointers in the season finale against Utica, he's guaranteed to end his junior season on the single-season top-10 leaderboard, as his 64 treys are just two shy of tying Shawn Blakeslee '00 for 10th place.

PORRETT ECLIPSES CAREER MILESTONE
Sophomore point guard Justin Porrett '19 has been one of Elmira's most consistent players throughout the 2016-17 campaign. The Dumont, New Jersey, native is second on the team with 10.4 points per game, third with 4.0 rebounds per game, and his 4.6 assists per game trail only Nazareth's Brendan Wind for the lead in the Empire 8 Conference. In fact, Porrett and Wind are the only two players in the league with over 100 assists heading into the last weekend of the regular season. With 111 dimes this year, Porrett surpassed 200 career helpers (202), and a repeat performance as a junior will place him among the program's all-time assists leaders at this time next year.

UTICA AT A GLANCE
While Utica's overall record is just 9-15 entering the season finale, playoff aspirations are still alive for the Pioneers, who enter the weekend fourth in the Empire 8 standings with a 9-6 league mark. In order to secure a postseason berth, the Pioneers need to defeat EC and receive some help from around the league, as Hartwick College trails UC by a mere half game with two contests left on its schedule. Should the Pioneers advance to the E8 Tournament, it would highlight a miraculous turnaround, as Utica began the season with a 0-10 record. After dropping the conference opener to Stevens Institute of Technology on January 3rd, the Pioneers have won nine of their last 14 games, including a buzzer-beating 75-74 victory over Ithaca College in their last game on Tuesday. Junior forward Ivan Iton is the only player on the team who has started all 24 contests in 2016-17, and leads the squad with 17.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.