KEUKA PARK, N.Y. — The Keuka College Men's Basketball team closed the game strong as they erased a halftime deficit to defeat SUNY Poly 72-69 on Wednesday night in a North Eastern Athletic Conference matchup.

Sophomore guard David Oliveras (Great Mills, Md. / Great Mills) led Keuka College (5-5. 2-1 NEAC) with 18 points and five assists. Trevor Powell (Manassas, Va. / Osbourn) finished with 16 points and Ryder Mansfield (Concord, N.C. / Charlotte United) added 11 for the Wolves.

Keuka College 72 vs. SUNY Poly 69

Keuka College took an early lead on Wednesday with DJ Billings (Rochester, N.Y. / Greece Odyssey) knocking down a three to make it 7-2. SUNY Poly came back and took the lead with the long ball. Wildcat senior Redell Freeman went 7-9 from deep in the opening half with many of them coming from well beyond the three-point stripe. Keuka College continued to battle. Sam Brown (Syracuse, N.Y. / West Genesee) provided the long ball for the Wolves the three triples in the half. The Wolves had a better shooting percentage than the Wildcats in the first half, but SUNY Poly led at halftime 34-31.

It took over three minutes for the first points of the second half to be scored. Achraf Sadouk (Williamsburg, Va. / Bruton) hit a three to tie the game up for the Wolves. SUNY Poly regained the lead and maintained it for most of the half. The Wildcats threated to put the game away midway through the second with a nine-point lead, but Keuka rallied. The Wolves scored nine unanswered points to once again tie the game at 50-50. It was Keuka's best scoring run of the game. The Wildcats regained the lead again, but a David Oliveras jumper tied the game and a pair of free throws by Oliveras gave Keuka a 57-55 lead with 5:27 left to play. The Wolves would push the lead to four points a minute later, but SUNY Poly would not go away. Following a Mansfield layup, the Wildcats hit a three with two minutes left to leave the Wolves with a one-point lead, 65-64. The next time down the court, Oliveras was key again for Keuka, knocking down a jumper. The game would go to the final seconds as Keuka led 72-69 with four seconds left. The Wildcats had the ball and raced down the court. However, they lost control of the ball and as the loose ball rolled away, the buzzer sounded to finalize the Keuka College victory.

KC Notes:

• The Wolves snapped a seven-game losing streak to SUNY Poly
• Keuka improves to 9-23 all-time against SUNY Poly with seven of the nine wins coming on the Wolves' home floor
• David Oliveras became the first player since Casey Williams nearly four years ago to play the full 40 minutes of a regulation game
• James Barnes (Rochester, N.Y. / University Prep) had a strong all-around game for Keuka. Barnes finished with nine points and nine rebounds. He also set a new career-high with four steals in the game
• SUNY Poly outrebounded Keuka College 45-33, but the Wolves had a 13-11 advantage in second chance points
• The Wolves valued the ball on Wednesday, only turning it over nine times. That is a season low for Keuka and the first time that they had less than ten turnovers since February 2015

Up Next for Keuka College: The Wolves will look to continue the momentum as they play a pair of games this weekend against teams from the South Division of the North Eastern Athletic Conference. The weekend begins in Reading, Pa. against Penn St.-Berks. Keuka College will then face the Penn College Wildcats in an NEAC matchup on Sunday.