UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team led by as many as 16 points early in the second half and held on to earn a 66-63 victory over visiting Oswego State Saturday night in the championship game of the Utica College Basketball Classic at the Clark Athletic Center.  Senior point guard Bennito Ayarza (Brooklyn, NY/Cayuga Community College) poured in a game-high 18 points for the second straight night on his way to earning the tournament's most valuable player honors. Ayarza finished the weekend averaging 18.0 points, 6.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. 

Utica improved to 4-0 at home on the year and moved its record to 5-4 overall with the victory. Oswego, a team that has made three consecutive NCAA Tournaments including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015-16, snapped a five game winning streak and saw its record move to 6-5 overall on the year.  

Utica benefitted from solid production off the bench from Tyler Jollie (Marlboro, NY/Marlboro) who netted 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range. Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) added 10 points, six rebounds and five blocks for the Pioneers. Iton now needs 30 more points to become the 16th player in program-history to reach the 1,000 career point plateau.

Ayarza drilled 4-of-4 free throws in the final 15 seconds of the contest to help the Pioneers preserve the three point victory.

Utica took its largest lead of the game, 38-22, after a layup by Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) just 1:46 into the second half of play.  Taylor finished the night with seven points and four rebounds. Oswego then used an 18-4 run in the next 5:36 of the contest to make it a two point ball game, 42-40, in favor of the Pioneers with 12:38 left on the game clock.

Utica answered with a 13-2 run in the game's next 3:45 to take back a double-digit lead, 55-42, with 8:53 to go.

Oswego kept up the pressure and dwindled its deficit to just one point following an acrobatic 3-point basket by Ian Schupp with five seconds left on the game clock. Schupp finished the night with a team-high 16 points for the Lakers. Oswego was forced to foul on the ensuing Utica possession and Ayarza drilled both free throws to secure the tournament championship for the home team.

The first twenty minutes of the contest was all Utica as the Pioneers held the Lakers to 28.6% shooting from the floor and just 20 points in 20 minutes.  Utica led 34-20 as the halftime horn sounded.

Utica shot 51% from the floor on the afternoon and 50% from 3-point range in the victory.

UC sophomore Jake Kulakowski (Brewerton, NY/Central Square) finished with seven points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor.  Hunter Remley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) added six points, while Justin Strielkauskas (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) added five points.

The Pioneers have a busy week at home as they open up Empire 8 Conference play against perennial power St. John Fisher College on Tuesday afternoon at 6 p.m. Utica will then host Nazareth in Empire 8 play on Friday at 6 p.m.