HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 12, 2011) – Junior forward Simon Smith (Cranford, N.J.) tallied his 13th double-double performance of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 76-64 win over Empire 8 rival Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon at the Canavan Arena. The Ducks improved to 10-3 in the Empire 8 and 17-5 overall with the win, and Smith was able to break the Stevens career rebounding record on the final play of the first half.
The first five minutes of game time was back-and-forth with five ties and the largest lead being two for Stevens. The Ducks took the upper hand first with a 6-0 run over a span 1:43 to open up a 16-10 advantage with 12:02 play in the first half. The Tigers (10-12 overall, 7-6 Empire 8) came right back with five quick points, but back-to-back triples from freshman guard Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) and sophomore guard Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.Y.) pushed the Stevens lead back to seven at 29-22 with 5:47 remaining in the opening period.
RIT once again battled back, cutting the lead to three with 4:17 to play before intermission but a 7-2 spurt by the Ducks pushed the margin to 10 at 38-28 under the one-minute mark, and the two teams eventually went into intermission with the Ducks holding a 38-30 lead.
Smith broke the rebounding mark at the end of the first half with an offensive rebound of a Skrelja floater. It gave him 712 boards for his career, one better than former record-holder Waleed Farid '08.
The Ducks shot 50 percent (16-for-32) in the first and were 2-for-7 from three-point land. Smith scored 11 points to lead the team as Jones added nine and Cutri had eight.
After allowing RIT within six points four times over the second half's first 6:50, the Ducks were able to create some space and put the Tigers away. Following a triple from senior guard Anthony Terry (Rochester, N.Y.) to make the score 50-44 Stevens with 13:10 left, sophomore guard Russ Thompson (West Orange, N.J.) canned a three from the right wing to push the margin to nine, and two minutes later, a long Cutri three from the left side upped the advantage to 12 following a nice pass from Thompson.
Stevens was able to get stops on the defensive end of the floor and a Franklin layup pushed the edge to 14 and Stevens never looked back, cruising to a big 12-point win over a team that had beaten the Ducks the last two times they had matched up.
A pair of Thompson free throws gave the Ducks a 15-point lead with a little more than five minutes left and a three-pointer at the top of the key from freshman forward Kevin McManamy (Raleigh, N.C.) gave Stevens what was its largest lead of the afternoon (18) at 71-53 with 4:29 on the clock.
The Ducks ended the game shooting 53.8 percent (28-for-52) from the field and 38.5 percent (5-for-13) from three-point land. They converted on 15 of their 20 free-throw attempts and ended the game with a 33-30 edge on the glass. Stevens had 17 assists (14 turnovers), 10 steals, and four blocks as a team.
Cutri and Jones ended tied for a game-high 16 points. Smith had 13 points and 12 rebounds in his 13th double-double performance of the season. His Stevens career-record rebounding total now sits at 717. Thompson added seven points and six assists, while Franklin was solid once again for the Ducks with nine points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals. Skrelja was also steady with four points, three assists, a block, and a steal.
Junior guard Justin Heisig (Levittown, N.Y.) had 13 points and five rebounds for RIT and Terry scored 13 points. Sophomore center RJ Kalb (Rochester, N.Y.) had 12 points and four boards for the Tigers who shot 41.5 percent (27-for-65) from the field, 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from three, and 3-for-3 from the line.
Stevens will return to the hardwood on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. in a big Empire 8 showdown with Hartwick College. The Hawks, who lost to Nazareth Saturday, will come in with a 9-4 conference mark, one game behind the Ducks who are tied with Ithaca College for the conference lead at 10-3. Game time is slated for 8 p.m. with all the action being webcast live at www.PennAtlantic.com.
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