HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- Houghton men's basketball used a strong finish to take an 80-69 victory over Alfred State on Saturday.

The Highlanders got 19 first-half points from Johnathan Stowe (Toronto, ON, Canada, Don Mills Collegiate Institute) as the hosts went into the locker room with a 13 point lead (47-34). Houghton's tenacious full-court press forced 18 Alfred State turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, many resulting in easy buckets for Stowe and his teammates, who pushed the lead to as many as 16 late in the half. The sophomore also was perfect on three 3-point attempts.

Houghton extended the lead to 15 to start the second half, but the Pioneers would not fold and used an 11-2 run to trim the deficit to six points. Houghton responded with their own 11-4 run to regain a 13 point advantage, but again the Pioneers were equal to the task. The visitors scored 11 straight to pull to 64-62 with 5:03 remaining. After an exchange of buckets and the Highlanders clinging to a 67-64 lead, Stowe converted four straight free throws, then Brennen Campbell (Perry, NY, Perry Central) hit two from the charity stripe, then nailed a three to give the Highlanders a comfortable 76-64 lead with 2:34 remaining. The teams had another exchange of buckets over the next 40 seconds, but neither team would score over the final 1:41 of the contest.

Stowe finished with a career-high 30 points and added nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals. Tyler McQuaid (Lowman, NY, Twin Tiers Christian Academy) added 19 points and seven boards. Phil Pellegrino (Rochester, NY, Alfred University) finished with eight points.

The Highlanders forced 30 turnovers on the night, which made up for a 36 percent shooting performance from the field.

Houghton will now take more than two weeks off for break and return to action at D'Youville on December 30.