Sophomores Tyler Hixson (Shortsville, NY/Red Jacket) and Jared Wagner (Pittsford, NY/McQuaid) each scored 15 points while freshman Vinney Zambito (Elba, NY/Batavia Notre Dame) came off the bench to make two big second-half three-pointers as Keuka College's men's basketball team held off SUNYIT, 68-64 Saturday inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.
Zambito finished with seven points, all in the last six minutes and 22 seconds, as Keuka (8-9, 6-3 North Eastern Athletic Conference) used a 12-3 spurt to win its second straight conference game.
Sophomore Trevor Healey (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) added 11 points and five rebounds while senior Teddy Tuggles (Rochester, NY/Gates Chili) had 10 points and five assists to power the Storm.
Keuka fell behind 7-1 early on, but Wagner made a '3', sophomore Adam Starks (Wellsville, NY/Andover) hit a jumper and Hixson made a spinning layup to pull the Storm within 11-10 five minutes in.
Hixson added a layup and Tuggles made his only three-pointer of the contest for a 15-13 Storm lead with 12:52 remaining in the first.
Trailing 30-25, Hixson and Wagner each made layups to slice the deficit to one point, but IT used a 6-0 run to take a 36-29 lead with three minutes left in the opening half.
Hixson scored 14 first-half points on 7 of 9 shooting, but the Green and Gold trailed SUNYIT (5-12, 3-4 NEAC) 37-35 heading into the second half.
Keuka went 5-for-6 on free throws to pull even at 45 with 16:23 left, and when Wagner knocked down a wide-open '3', the Storm had a 49-47 lead with 15:20 remaining.
Neither school led by more than two points until Healey made a layup and Zambito buried a '3' for a 57-53 lead with 6:22 remaining. That caused IT to call timeout, and Kaleel Johnson pulled the Wildcats within 57-56 on a three-point play with 5:44 remaining.
After Zambito snared an offensive rebound, Wagner knocked down another '3' and Zambito followed with his second '3' of the half to give Keuka a 63-56 lead with 3:43 left.
Desmian Greer (32 points) answered with back-to-back triples as the Wildcats clawed within 63-62 with 2:10 remaining, but Keuka made its final five free throws as Tuggles went 4-for-4 and Zambito added a free throw to seal the win.
The Storm shot 45.1 percent for the game (23-for-51), including 51.7 percent in the first half (15-for-29). Keuka also turned the ball over a season-low six times, including just once in the first half.
The Storm hosts SUNY Cobleskill at 3 p.m. Sunday inside the Weed. Live stats are available at www.KeukaStorm.com/live-stats.