Pioneers Cage Cougars to Complete Weekend Sweep

The Alfred State men's basketball team completed a weekend sweep of road contests in the New York City area by defeating Medgar Evers 88-79 in a tight contest. The Pioneers improve to 5-4 on the season.

The Cougars led 6-5 early but Alfred State went on a 9-2 run to take a lead that they held until late in the 1st half. Medgar Evers retook the lead 33-32 with just over three minutes remaining before the Pioneers finished the half on a 10-5 run to take a 42-37 lead into the half.

The Pioneers and Cougars battled back and forth in the 2nd half with Alfred State grabbing the lead only to see MEC rally. With seven minutes left the contest was deadlocked at 67-67 scored the next six points. The team would not give back the lead and used a 15-8 run to close out the game in the final 4:15 to seal the victory.

Dante Jordan (New York/Law & Public) had a monster game to lead the Pioneers. He was 10 for 15 from the field and led the blue & gold with 26 points. He completed the double-double with 13 rebounds. Juwan Toliver (Buffalo/McKinley) finished with 16 points, Marcus Rhett (Middletown) had 15 points and nine rebounds, and Josh Reding (Rochester/Spencerport) chipped in 12. 

Alfred State continued to shoot the ball well. They finished the contest shooting 50% (29 for 58) from the field and 79.4% (27 for 34) from the foul line. 

Justin Sutton led all scorers with 37 points for Medgar Evers. He was 16 for 27 from the field (4 for 10 from three). Sean Webb and Isaiah Garvey Mwazi both chipped in nine points. The Cougars shot 43.7% from the field and just 56.3% (9 for 16) from the foul line.

The blue & gold take on SUNY ESF next Sunday in their final contest before the Christmas break. Opening tip-off is at 3 p.m.