UTICA, NY – A deep, early hole ultimately sunk the Houghton Highlanders, as they lost for the second night in a row, falling to the SUNY Poly Wildcats, 90-74.
 
Poly scored the first 16 points of the game in less than five minutes and the Highlanders spent the next 35 minutes scrambling to make up that deficit. 
 
While Houghton played Poly evenly the rest of the game, they never dug themselves out of that early hole.
 
GAME VITALS
Score: Houghton – 74 | SUNY Poly – 90
Records: Houghton: 8-7 (3-3 Empire 8) | SUNY Poly: 9-6 (4-2 Empire 8) 
Venue: Campus Center Gymnasium, SUNY Polytechnical Institute| Attendance: 89

NOTABLE STATS
>> Poly outrebounded the Highlanders, 45-to-26.
 
>> While Houghton shot a respectable 68 percent (15-for-22) from the free throw line, the Wildcats hit an impressive 28-of-30 shots (93 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
>> Jajuan Preaster scored a team-high 22 points in only 19 minutes before fouling out.  He has topped 20 points in a game six times this season and now has 1301 points in his career.
 
>> Christian Sage added 13 points and three assists, while Lou Bellamy tacked on 11 points and seven rebounds.  David Rosa also scored 10 points and six rebounds. 
 
>> LaMarqus Merchant Jr. led the Wildcats with 21 points and four assists, knocking down 11-of-12 free throws.
 
COACH'S CORNER
"This one is definitely on me. I gambled early with some defensive adjustments to try and take away shooters that just did not pay off.  We dug a 16-0 hole, went back to the basics, and played them even.
 
"We struggled to find our offensive advantages in the halfcourt, so we need to drill reads more. I know what to work on and we have four solid practice days to improve on it before a couple more road games against good teams.
 
"I give our guys a lot of credit for uphill battling against a physical team on the road. We showed some resiliency after that poor start."
 
"Jajuan [Preaster] really had a great second half at both ends of the floor. He's super tough when he is that locked in. He and Lou Bellamy are a formidable duo who open things up for our guards on the perimeter.
 
"Christian Sage continues to be more and more efficient. He's getting the ball where we need it to go and hitting shots when defenses leave him. I think he still has a higher ceiling that he is pushing toward and I'm looking forward to watching him reach it." – Head Coach Jeremy Bialek
 
UP NEXT
The Highlanders travel to Brockport next Friday, January 24, when they will take on the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles at 7:30 p.m.