ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's basketball team used a huge second half to overcome a 14 point deficit to defeat SUNY-Delhi on Friday evening. Led by Brewster Marshall (Horseheads, NY / Horseheads), the Saxons (3-2, 0-0 Empire 8) outscored the Broncos 42-26 in the second half to come away with the 71-62 victory.
The Broncos came out firing on all cylinders as Carlos Ithier hit three straight triples to open the game and help SUNY-Delhi out to a 13-2 lead.
The Saxons trailed by double digits for a large portion of the first half before cutting it to a seven point game at the halftime break.
The tables turned for AU in the second half as Marshall began to get in close to the bucket and managed to reel off 10 straight points in just over three minutes to bring the Saxons within five.
A runner in the paint followed by a long ball from Cole Eells (Ithaca, NY / Ithaca) tied the game at 47 with 11:22 left to play.
After Delhi momentarily regained the lead, Sam Dagon (Hornell, NY / Hornell) hit a jumper in the paint to give AU a 51-49.
From that point, Marshall and Dagon continued to make plays and the Saxons never looked back and came away with their third win on the young season.
"I thought that it was a tail of two halves," Head Coach Russell Phillips said. "We came out a little flat. Number 10 hit a bunch of threes right away that got them off to a big start. I thought we dug in after that and defended them really well. Through the second half we did a much better job with the toughness plays, 50-50 balls, and lots of offensive rebounds. We took good shots and got good possessions to close it at the end."
Marshall had a monstrous second half as he scored all 17 of his points in the later period. He also finished with five rebounds and two blocks. Dagon also came away with 17 points on the night and had two assists. Eells finished with 11 points, a team high eight rebounds and three steals. Elliot Bowen (Salamanca, NY / Ellicottville) also scored 11 while Mike Schmidt (Olean, NY / Olean) rounded out the double-figure scorers for AU with 10 points and led the team with six assists.
Alfred will be back at home on Tuesday as they host Rochester Institute of Technology at 5PM.