Pioneers Drop Tight Contest at D'Youville

In a contest that featured five ties and seven lead changes, D'Youville defeated Alfred State 74-69 on Wednesday evening. The loss snapped the Pioneers five game winning streak.

Halfway through the 1st half, D'Youville held a 21-14 before the Pioneers scored the next seven to tie it up. The Spartans answered right back with a 10-0 run to grab the 31-21 lead. The blue & gold finished the half on a 12 to 4 run to cut the lead to three, 35-32, at the break.

Early in the 2nd half, D'Youville pushed their lead up to seven and the Pioneers kept fighting back and took a 57-56 lead with 7:30 remaining in the game. The game went back and forth the next two minutes before the Spartans broke a 62-62 tie with four straight points and never gave back the lead. The blue & gold trailed by three, 70-67, with under a minute left but were unable to capitalize on two opportunities to get any closer. The Spartans hit four foul shots to seal the victory.

Dante Jordan (New York/Law & Public) led four Pioneers in double figures with 14 points and nine boards. Marcus Rhett (Middletown) finished with 13, Alexshay Pearce (Rochester/Charlotte) finished with 12, and Juwan Tolliver (Buffalo/McKinley) chipped in 11 points and seven assists. Tahaij Lewis (Rochester/Greece Olympia) came off the bench and had seven points and nine boards.

The Pioneers were 30 for 78 from the field for the game, 3 for 16 from three, and hit 6 of 8 of their foul shots. Alfred State continued to be tough on the boards and held a 47 to 34 advantage.

Juan Miguel Rosales led the Spartans with 24 points while Simeon Heard finished with 14. Will Vanauken added 10. D'Youville was 31 for 59 from the field, hit 6 of 19 three-point attempts, and was 6 for 11 from the foul line.

The Pioneers continue their road trip on Friday when they head to Albany Pharmacy for a 1 p.m. (please note time change due to weather) contest with the Panthers.