HOBOKEN, NJ—The Alfred University men's basketball team (7-8, E8 3-3) beat Stevens Tech 81-77, earning the Saxons' third straight win over the E8 rival dating back to last year.
 
Sophomore Dalton Cousin (Sherrill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) led the Saxons with 25 points and seven rebounds. The 25-point performance is a career-best of Cousin, who scored 22 points versus Buff State on December 12.
 
Junior Tyler Seelman (Lorton, VA/Hayfield Secondary) closed in on the 1000-point mark, scoring 22 points, giving him a total of 962 points scored in his career at AU. Fellow junior Julian Reinhart (Hornell, NY/Hornell) dished out nine dimes and collected eight rebounds in the matchup.
 
The first half of the game was a dogfight as both teams battled to maintain a lead. There were seven ties and six lead changes in the first 20 minutes. The Ducks shot a total of 53.8% (14-of-26) from the floor in the first half compared to the Saxons' 40.0% (14-of-35). However, AU kept pace with Stevens and trailed only 36-33 at the half time break.
 
The roles were reversed in the second half with the Saxons shooting 52.8% (19-of-36) and the Ducks hitting 44.8% (13-of-29) of their shots. Seelman and Cousin scored 13 and 12 of their points in the second half, respectively.
 
After trailing at the intermission, AU erased its deficit only three minutes into the second half and gained the lead with 16:48 to go in the game on a Seelman three-ball.  The Saxons led by as many as 14 points with 5:13 left.  However, by the 1:24 mark the Ducks were back within one point, 78-77. On the next two possessions Reinhart and freshman Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) hit a jumper and free throw, respectively, to seal the game for the Saxons.
 
AU shot a combined 46.5% (33-of-71) in the game while the Ducks made 49.1% (27-of-55) of their shots. Evan Klimchak was the highest scoring player for the Ducks (7-7, E8 3-3) with 22 points.
 
The Saxons are off until next Thursday when they travel to Elmira, NY to take on the Elmira Soaring Eagles at 6PM.