By Brandy Thurston, Director of Sports Information
(Morrisville, NY – Jan. 30, 2013) Host Morrisville State College men’s 
basketball avenged an earlier season conference loss, handing visiting Keuka College Storm a 79-69 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) defeat Wednesday night in Morrisville.
Morrisville State remains atop the NEAC with an 8-1 overall record, improving to a 14-4 overall mark. Keuka drops to 9-10 overall, 7-4 in conference action.
Ten contributed to the win for the Mustangs, as Jailaan Kinsey (Syracuse, N.Y.) led the way with a team high 18 points. Kinsey also registered two assists, as teammate Brandon Hanks (Syracuse, N.Y.) came off the bench to post 13 points, adding eight boards and eight assists to his tallies. Rhamel Williams (Bronx, N.Y.) rounded out top scorers with 12 points, grabbing a team high nine rebounds.
Casey Williams led the Storm effort, recording a game high 19, 16 alone in the second half as Teddy Tuggles added 18 points and grabbed a team best eight rebounds. Trevor Healey tallied 10 points for Keuka, adding four boards and assisting another four.
Keuka put up a scoring frenzy in the opening minutes, building up a seven point advantage, but the lead was quickly snatched away as Andrew Lucio (Solvay, N.Y.) nailed two straight from long range to cut the lead to one.
The next seven minutes held a tight game and a tied score six times, but six straight points by Tom Wilk (Cortland, N.Y.) in the paint sparked the Mustangs to go on a 24-10 run to take the 44-30 lead heading into halftime.
Morrisville State held nearly a 20 point lead over Keuka for most of the second half, but the Storm wouldn’t go away quietly. Williams hit back-to-back three’s with 2:30 to go to cut the deficit to just nine, and Tuggles another from long range with under two remaining bringing Keuka within six with 1:43 showing on the clock.
Kinsey converted the second of two free throws for a seven point Morrisville State advantage, but a quick scoring drive by Tuggles made it a five point game with 34 ticks left.
The Mustangs earned the win from the free throw line in the closing seconds, hitting 5-of-6 opportunities to collect the conference victory.
The battle proved to be on the glass, with Morrisville State out rebounding Keuka 46-29, collecting 21 on the offensive glass (to the Storms six), leading to 22 second chance points on the night for the Mustangs.
Morrisville State is on the road for the weekend, traveling to Gallaudet on Saturday before facing Penn State Harrisburg on Sunday.