Box Score Rochester, NY – Following a loss in their opening game of the season, the D'Youville men's basketball team grabbed their first win of the season Saturday afternoon by defeating the Alfred State Pioneers by the final score of 93-77.
Freshman Jake Socha (Tonawanda, NY/Niagara Catholic) opened up the scoring with an and-one play, giving D'Youville a 3-0 lead. Seniors Jon Gemerek (Cheektowaga, NY/Depew) and Marcus Clarke (Olean, NY/Archbishop Walsh Academy) went to the line and hit all 8 of their free throws over the next 7 minutes and took a 21-17 lead over the Pioneers.
Alfred State pulled to within two points but Zach Blask (Portville, NY/Portville) gave the Spartans some cushioning with a three-pointer. After the Pioneers took a 32-30 lead, but then Blask tied the game up at 32 with a layup. The two teams would battle back and forth and it looked like Alfred State would head into the half with the lead but Jeremy VanDuluitgaarden (Oneida, NY/Venron-Verona-Sherill) hit a three-pointer with 0:09 seconds left in the half to tie the score at 42 with both teams heading into the locker room.
Socha and Clarke accounted for 6 straight points for D'Youville that would give them the team a 54-50 with 16:03 remaining in the game as the second half began. The Spartans would come close to losing their lead as the Pioneers pulled within 1 point with 11:44 remaining in the game, but D'Youville would go on a scoring run to extend their lead to 68-60.
Freshman Juan Miguel Rosales (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Village School) scored 11 points in a 6 minute span followed by Mark Jorgensen (Rochester, NY/Spencerport) scoring 6 points in the final 1:23 to put the game away for D'Youville, defeating Alfred State 93-77.
"It was a nice win since we struggled in the first half," said Head Coach Earl Schunk.
"Our depth was key. All 12 who dressed played a role in the win."
D'Youville's deep roster was on display as 11 of the 12 Spartans scored in the game. Five total players, including 4 starters, reached double-figures in the game. Marcus Clarke led the team in scoring for the second consecutive game with 18 points. Juan Rosales and Jon Gemerek each added 14 points with Rosales grabbing 7 rebounds while Gemerek had 5.
Will VanAuken (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) had a team and career high 16 rebounds in just his second career collegiate game. Clarke also had 6 assists to lead the team, followed by Matt Insley (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville). All 12 players collected at least 1 rebound, 10 players had at least 1 assist and 9 players had at least 1 steal.
The Spartans out rebounded the Pioneers 44 to 27 on the defensive end and Schunk credited his team's tenaciousness on the glass to helping seal the game for the team.
"Our defensive rebounding in the last 10 minutes helped us pull away and we executed on offense to keep the lead."
The next game for D'Youville comes next Friday, November 20th against RIT at 8pm.
