Buffalo, NY - The D'Youville men's basketball team suffered a loss to the SUNY Canton Kangaroos on Sunday afternoon by the final score of 99-90.

D'Youville came out with back-to-back threes from Will VanAuken (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) and Jeremy VanDuluitgaarden (Oneida, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill), followed by a Simeon Heard (Rochester, NY/Charles Finney) jumper to give the Spartans an early 8-2 lead. Each team would score an additional two points until the Kangaroos went on a 10-2 scoring run, taking a 14-10 lead. 

With 7:29 left in the half, Canton tied the game up at 21-21 before a Kangaroo player scored seven unanswered points for a 28-21 lead. The Spartans pulled to within three after a Heard made three, but Canton began to pull away as the half wore on. Juan Miguel Rosales (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Village School) converted an and-one with 0:30 left in the half to bring D'Youville to within 10 as the half ended with Canton up 45-35 over D'Youville.

Jake Socha (Tonawanda, NY/Niagara Catholic) came out in the second half and was the main source of offense for the Spartans. He scored the first basket of the half with a three and then added a pair of free throws to bring D'Youville to within six at 49-43. Canton began to pull away from D'Youville as they extended their lead to 16 with 13:50 and then 18 just a minute later.

Down by 17 with under 10 minutes to go, D'Youville began to fight their way back into the game. The pulled to within 15 after another Socha three and then 11 after a Zach Blask (Portville, NY/Portville) made three with 2:18 remaining in regulation. However, the Spartans ran out of time at the end of the game as Canton would go on to defeat D'Youville 99-90.

"Playing an extremely athletic team like SUNY Canton forces us to be precise in every facet of the game," said head coach Earl Schunk. "When we played that way in the first ten minutes of the second half and the last ten minuets of the game, we were very effective. The middle twenty minutes, we were sloppy and tentative and it cost us. We need to carry the last ten minutes into Wednesday."

The team was led in scoring by their sophomores VanDuluitgaarden and Socha. VanDuluitgaarden led the team with 21 points, while Socha had 20 points and a team high 12 rebounds. VanAuken also added 11 points and a team high four assists.

Off the bench, Darrius Hartzog (Rochester, NY/Wilson Magnet) scored a team 10 points off the bench to go with two rebounds, assists and steals. Heard scored nine points to go with three rebounds, two assists and two steals in his first start of the season while Blask also scored nine points.

Rosales scored seven points to go with two blocks and three rebounds off the bench, while Haiden Ward (Bloomfield, NY/Bloomfield) scored four points while Steve Kunelius (Oswego, NY/Oswego) scored four. Mark Jorgensen (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) and Brian Nwaekeke (Corona, CA/John F. Kennedy) each also played in the game.

The men will open their conference schedule on Wednesday, November 30th against the Penn State-Behrend Lions. D'Youville and Behrend will tip-off at 8pm.