Buffalo, NY - Battling to the end, the D'Youville Men's Basketball Team lost a close game to the visiting Pitt.-Bradford Panthers Wednesday evening by the final score of 71-66.

After trailing 17-11 with just over 10 minutes to go in the first half, freshman Steve Kunelius (Oswego, NY/Oswego) hit a pair of three-pointers to keep the game from getting too out of reach in favor of the Panthers. Up 6 with 5 minutes remaining, a pair of juniors stepped up for the Spartans and put the lead back in favor of the home team.

Jon Gemerek (Cheektowaga, NY/Depew) made back-to-back jumpshots to bring the score within 2. Marcus Clarke (Olean, NY/Archbishop Walsh Academy) then hit 4 straight free throws to trail Pitt.-Bradford by 1. After being fouled on a three-point attempt, Gemerek went to the line and made all three of this free throws to give D'Youville a 34-32 lead heading into halftime.

Both teams came out in the second half and played a very tight game. Every time one team would get ahead, the other team would answer right back. After trailing 46-42 with 13:28 remaining in the game, a Zach Blask (Portville, NY/Portville) made jump shot tied the game at 46-46 over a minute later. 

As the visiting Panthers began to pull away, senior Julian Reed (Cheektowaga, NY/Union-Endicott) scored 8 straight points for D'Youville to keep the game within reach. The team fought back to trail 63-62 with :49 remaining after a Reed made layup, but the Panthers came in clutch from the line in the final minute, hitting all 8 of their free throw attempts and won the game by the score of 71-66.

"That was an especially tough loss for us," said fourth year Head Coach Earl Schunk.

"Our defense kept us in the game. We had to make big shots at the end and unfortunately we didn't."

Leading the way on defense was Julian Reed, who blocked 7 shots and had 15 defensive rebounds. Reed, the team's captain and leading scorer, led the team once again with 17 points. Adding 2 offensive rebounds to his stat line, the fourth year player totaled 17 rebounds on the evening.

The junior pair of Clarke and Gemerek also had impressive offensive games. Clarke, the 2013-14 leading scorer of the D'Youville Spartans, was second on the team with 15 points. Gemerek added 14. Both players had 2 assists and a rebound. Marcus was the leading scorer off the bench for D'Youville.

Connor Gallivan (Elma, NY/Iroquois) and Kunelius tied with 6 points off the bench. Junior Nate Sweetman (Johnstown, NY/Johnstown) grabbed 6 rebounds and added 2 points with 2 assists.

"The guys did work exceptionally hard tonight, we just have to finish the deal," said Schunk.

The next opportunity for the men to get a conference win will be Saturday, January 17th against Penn St.-Altoona in the College Center Gymnasium. The game between the two AMCC teams will begin at 3:00pm.