Three Finish in Double Digits in Physical Battle with Villa

The Alfred State men's basketball team fell in a hard fought physical battle with Villa Maria on Wednesday night. The Vikings (22-3) led throughout the game and held on for the 77-69 victory.

Villa Maria scored the first seven points of the game and never would give up the lead. The Pioneers fell behind by as many as 15, 27-22, in the 1st half but battled back to cut it two three on two different occasions in the first half (29-26 and 31-28). At the break, the Vikings led 37-33. Tahaij Lewis (Rochester/Greece Olympia) and Dante Jordan (New York/Law & Public Service) both had 12 to lead the Pioneers while Lonnie Taylor had 12 and Dominic Douglas has 10 for Villa.

Alfred State saw Villa expand their lead to double digits early in the 2nd half and the lead grew to as many as 21, 70-49, before the Pioneers rallied back. The Pioneers outscored the Vikings 20-4 in the next to five minutes to cut the lead to 75-69 but ran out of time. Lewis scored another 10 points while Jordan and Ryan Gentile (Spencerport) both had eight. Taylor and DeJuan Owens both scored 12 for the visitors.

Lewis finished with 22 points (9 for 18) and 15 boards while Jordan finished with 20 points (4 for 7 from three) and nine boards. Gentile finished in double figures with 10. The Pioneers shot 38% (27 for 71) from the field, 42.9% (9 for 21) from three, and 54.5% (6 for 11) from the foul line. The Pioneers held a slight 46 to 43 advantage on the boards but turned the ball over 19 times.

Taylor led the Vikings with 24 points and nine boards while Douglas finished with 16. Villa shot 41.5% (27 for 65) from the field, 35% (7 for 20) from three, and 66.7% (16 for 24) from the foul line.

The blue & gold wrap up the regular season on Friday when they host Green Mountain. Opening tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.