Box Score UTICA, NY -  The Northampton men's basketball team opened the 2016-17 campaign with a 76-70 victory over Jefferson Community College on Friday night at the Torchia Classic hosted by Mohawk Valley Community College. 

Jerrel Burke (Morrisville, PA/Pennsbury ) scored 19 points and Justin Kellman (Reading, PA /Reading ) grabbed 9 rebounds as Northampton battled back from a 37-34 halftime deficit to outscore the Cannoneers 42-33 in the second half to advance to the tournament championship game.  "I thought we executed fairly well, especially for the opening game of the season," remarked Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "In the first half we struggled somewhat when Jefferson went to their 2-3 zone, but we made some changes at halftime and were able to swing the ball a little better and get some open looks."

Trailing by 4 with under 10 minutes to play, the Spartan sophomores rose to the occassion and took control of the contest, "I was really proud of our sophomores tonight," stated McCarthy, "with the game on the line, they stepped up and led us to the victory."  Isiah Hinton-Gray had 18 points and 7 boards, Juan Perez-Jones (Morrisville, PA/Pennsbury ) added 13 points and 5 assists and Tyerell Mann (East Stroudsburg, PA /Notre Dame - East Stroudsburg ) finished with 13 for Northampton. 

The Spartans (1-0) will face Mohawk Valley (2-0) in the championship game at 2:00pm on Saturday.