ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's basketball team won big over Houghton College on Saturday. The Saxons (12-4, 5-2 Empire 8) defeated the Highlanders, 85-60.

Two straight three's to open the contest from Cole Eells (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) and Scotty Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) set the tone for the game and helped Alfred get out to an 18-4 start.

A Houghton three at the 12:22 mark cut the Saxon lead to 10, but AU quickly returned with long balls from Stopera and Dom LeMorta (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) to push the lead back up to 15.

LeMorta ended the first half with four three-pointers in the last 4:05 to send the Saxons into the halftime break leading 55-25.

The Second half saw much of the Saxon bench getting into the action. Three's from Pat McLamore Jr. (Greensboro, NY/Aquinas Institute) and Zeke Ogbonna (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) kept the AU lead up to 30 points for a majority of the second half.

Late free throws from the Highlanders cut the deficit to 25 by the end of the game as Alfred came out with its fifth Empire 8 victory of the season.

LeMorta was 6-10 from behind the arc on his way to 22 points for the day. Eells was a perfect 5-5 from three point land and ended with 17 points. Stopera scored eight and dished out five assists. Anthony Ruffino (North Tonawanda, NY/Niagara Wheatfield) scored five points and grabbed two rebounds. 14 different Saxons scored in the game.

"Complete team win tonight. It was great to be home where there was a lot of energy in the crowd," Head Coach Russell Phillips said. "We did a good job building on last Saturday, defensively. That has to continue to be our focus."

The Saxons will be on the road next Friday against Hartwick College for a 7:30PM tipoff.