Utica, NY – Sam Annorh (Queens, NY) finished with a team-high 26 points including a perfect 14-for-14 from the free throw line but the men's basketball team dropped a 103-86 decision to host Utica College Wednesday evening at Harold T. Clark Gymnasium. The win improves the Pioneers to 3-3, while the loss drops the Roos to 0-5.

Annorh was impressive shooting 50 percent from the floor and 100 percent from the charity stripe in 25 minutes of action. Scott Dixon (Brooklyn, NY) paced four other Roos in double figures tallying 15 points shooting 5-for-10 from long distance.

Khalid Vaughn (New York, NY) and Rashad Richardson (Rochester, NY) pumped in 12 points apiece, while Romario Fletcher (Queens, NY) finished with 10 in the scoring column. Annorh registered a game-high six steals as SUNY Canton turned 21 Utica turnovers into a 32-12 edge in points off turnovers.

SUNY Canton led early at 4-3 after a Fletcher layup. The Pioneers would open the lead up to seven points eight minutes into the game but a 7-0 Roo run finished off by a Dixon trey tied the game at 18 apiece. The Roos got their largest lead of the game at four points after a long ball from Xzavier Fisher (Brooklyn, NY) with 8:38 left in the opening half, but it was the hosts who used a 10-0 run near the end of the stanza to take a 49-40 lead into intermission.

Dixon and Utica's Aaron Nevins led all scorers with 12 points in the first frame. The Pioneers shot a blistering 57 percent from the field, while the Roos hit on just 33 percent of their shots. SUNY Canton forced Utica to turn the ball over 10 times, while giving the ball away just five times.

The Roos used a 15-10 spurt out of break to get within four with 16:32 remaining after an Annorh old-fashioned three-point play. That was as close as SUNY Canton would get as the Pioneer lead ballooned to as much as 20 en route to the 103-86 victory.

Nevins led all scorers with 32 points, while Marion Lewis (23) Chris Jeffers (13) and Marty Felicia (11) all

finished in double figures for Utica. Felicia and Jeffers posted double-doubles adding 14 and 12 rebounds, respectively.

Utica held a 46-32 advantage on the glass although SUNY Canton attacked the offensive boards coming away with one more rebound (17) than the Pioneers (16). Utica had the edge in points in the paint (68-42), while the teams were almost dead even in both bench points (33-32 Utica) and second chance points (17-17).

The men's basketball team returns to the hardwood Friday evening when it visits Houghton College for a 7:00 p.m. tip.