Alfred, NY - The D'Youville men's basketball team lost a road conference contest on Tuesday afternoon, falling to the Alfred State Pioneers 71-66.

The two teams combined four nine points through the first four minutes of play as both teams struggled from the field early. A three from Latrell Butler (Olean, NY/Olean) tied the game at 7-7 through 5:25 of play, followed by a three from Brian Sharp (Newark, NY/Newark) to give the Spartans their first lead. The long-range barrage continued from the Spartans as Grant Beyer (Williamsville, NY/St. Joe's) joined in on the action with a three of his own to send the team up 15-12.

D'Youville would begin to pull away from the Pioneers as Beyer hit another three to make the game 20-12. That lead would begin to evaporate as Alfred State turned it up on both ends of the court, taking the lead back at 23-22 with 5:24 to go in the half. The Spartans would regain their lead and extend it to four at 29-25 with a Torree Cheatham (Lockport, NY/Lockport) layup. To end the half, Alfred State would make a layup to make it a five-point Spartan lead at halftime with the score 36-31.

Just over three minutes into play in the second, the Pioneers retook the lead by one on a made three. D'Youville would fight to maintain their lead, but Alfred State slowly started to pull away. Tied at 45, the Pioneers went on a 12-5 run to take seven-point lead with 7:50 to go in regulation.

That lead grew to 10 for the Pioneers, but D'Youville would not go away. A Devon Darrell (Lockport, NY/Lockport) free throw brought the deficit down to five and then a Sharp three with 1:41 to go in the game made it a four-point deficit. Beyer would make it a one-possession game with under a minute to go with another three, but that would be the closest the Spartans would be able to get back to the lead as the men fell 71-66.

Beyer led the team with 20 points in the game with Juan Miguel Rosales (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Village School) grabbed his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Darrell added eight points with a team-high nine assists while Beyer added four assists.

Sharp tallied a team-high nine points off the bench while Jake Funderburk (Amherst, NY/Amherst) grabbed six rebounds. Wanya Bruce( Rochester, NY/Fairport) and Butler each tallied three points while Noah Denz (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora), Jagdeep Drumgoole (Rochester, NY/Early College), and Cheatham each scored a pair.

The next game for the men will come after break as they host the Penn State-Behrend Lions at 6:00pm on Wednesday, December 4 in the College Center Gym.