MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – The Morrisville State College men's basketball team held on to top Elmira College 81-75 Saturday afternoon at the NYU Tip-Off Tournament, with senior center Tom Wilk (Cortland, N.Y.) putting up collegiate high numbers on opening day for the Mustangs.

The win is the second straight season opening victory for Morrisville State in as many years. They advance to face host NYU for the tournament title at 3 p.m. Sunday, who defeated Drew University 85-68 earlier in the day.

Wilk went 9-for-13 from the floor for the Mustangs and added three more from the charity stripe to lead Morrisville State with21 points, adding seven boards and two blocked shots to his tallies.

Three additional teammates posted double figures for Morrisville State, including Jordan Prior (Cortland, N.Y.) who added 20 points, hitting four from long range, while collecting seven boards and dishing out three assists. Kucjok Ater (Syracuse, N.Y.) recorded 12, 10 in the second half, while teammate Brandon Hanks (Syracuse, N.Y.) added 10, assisting three, and stealing another three.

Josh Keys led Elmira with a game high 24 points, while teammate Neil Randolph added 20 and Derrick Vogel 13 in the Soaring Eagle efforts.

Morrisville State got off to a slow start mustering just four points in the opening five minutes to Elmira's 11, until Prior hit back-to-back three's to get the Mustangs back in the game.

The Soaring Eagles raced out to as many as a 10 point lead with just over three minutes to go in the opening half, but Prior hit a layup and Hanks a fast break score off a steal to send the game into the half with a 36-30 Elmira lead.

In the second, Morrisville State pulled to within one on a layup by Sherard King (Bronx, N.Y.) early on and traded the lead with Elmira three times over a seven minute span.

A jumper by Ater with 3:52 to go, put the Mustangs ahead for good, and he followed suit seconds later with another layup to increase the Morrisville State lead to four. But buckets by Hanks, Jailaan Kinsey (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Prior down the stretch sealed the win for the Mustangs as Elmira put together a last minute effort with two long range bombs.

Morrisville State took advantage of play in the paint, posting the 32-8 onslaught in the second half, while getting nine additional points off second chance opportunities. The Mustangs shot 63.6 percent from the floor in the final period, hitting 21-of-33 shots to outscore Elmira 51-39, including a 5-for-6 performance from Wilk in the paint, while holding the 21-10 advantage on the glass (36-30 in the contest).

The Mustangs take on NYU tomorrow for the tourney title, before returning to Morrisville for the home opener against Maritime next Saturday.