SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Villa Maria College men's basketball team dominated on their way to a 109-75 victory over SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Saturday evening at Ally Hall Gymnasium on the Onondaga Community College campus. Villa and SUNY ESF entered the game tied for first place in the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. With the win, the Vikings improved to 12-14 overall and 3-0 in the HVIAC, taking control of the number one seed. The Oaks dropped to 5-13 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
https://hviac.net/sports/mbkb/2023-24/standings
Sophomore Guard
Taron Benton lead the way for the Vikings scoring a new career high 27 points and recorded his second double-double of the season grabbing 10 rebounds.
The 109 points marks the first time Villa has hit the century mark this season and is the third most points they have scored in a game over the last five seasons. In 2022-2023 the Viking set a school record scoring 123 points against The King's College and then seven games later, set a new record scoring 139 points against the Culinary Institute of America. Villa entered the contest averaging 72.8 points per game.
Villa will now wait for the conference tournament to begin on March 2nd at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY.
IMPACT PLAYERS
- Villa finished with five players in double figures and all 11 players saw action in the game.
- Sophomore G Taron Benton had a career high 27 points with 10 rebounds, one steal and one assist.
- Junior G Juston Johnson had 25 points, six assist, five rebounds and one steal. This marked Johnson's 14th game over 20 points this season.
- Sophomore G Bryant Rosa had 17 points, two rebounds, two assist and one steal.
- Senior F Nolan Shephard had 17 points, three blocks, one assist and 1 steal.
- Junior G Damario James had 11 points, eight assist and 3 rebounds.
