PITTSFORD,  NY – The Utica College men's basketball team jumped out to a 27-16 lead in the first 10:47 of the game and never looked back as the Pioneers went on to defeat Washington & Jefferson 78-60 in the opening game of the Woodcliff Tournament hosted by St. John Fisher College on Monday afternoon. The Pioneers (3-5), who snapped a three game losing streak with the win, will play SUNY Old Westbury tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Three different Pioneers scored in double figures including Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) (15), Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) (13) and Robert Tutein (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) (10).  Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds in the victory.  Utica shot 55% (11-for-20) from 3-point range to earn the win.

Freshman Dillan Veeder (Canajoharie, NY/Canajoharie) netted a career-high eight points (2-for-3 from 3-point range), while Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) added six points and five assists. Nevins now needs 18 points to crack 1,000 for his career.  He also needs two more assists to move into fifth on the College's all-time list. 

Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) is now just the second player in school-history to compile over 700 career rebounds.

Sophomore Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science) totaled seven points and pulled in four rebounds for Utica, while Griffin Kelly (Watervliet, NY/Watervliet), Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) and Rich Smith (Albany, NY/La Salle Institute) scored three points apiece.

Utica led by just three points, 34-31, with 1:36 left in the first half, but the Pioneers used an 8-0 run late in the half to earn a 42-33 lead as the first half clock expired.

The Pioneers led by five in the opening minutes of the second half and used a 15-0 run to earn a convincing 18 point lead, 58-40, with 12:17 left in the contest. The Pioneers held at least a 16 point lead for the remainder for the game to preserve the victory. 

Mike Resnik totaled a game-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Presidents, while Mitch Lochner added 13 points and five rebounds.

Utica's depth off the bench proved to be too much for W & J as the Pioneers' bench outscored W & J's bench 39-7 on the afternoon.

UC finished the day shooting 26-for-54 from the floor and also went 15-for-19 from the charity stripe.