Box Score UTICA, NY - The Northampton men's basketball team took home tournament runner-up honors at the Torchia Classic at Mohawk Valley, losing to the host 81-67 on Saturday afternoon in the title game. 

All Tournament selection Jerrel Burke (Morrisville, PA/Pennsbury ) led the Spartans with 24 points, while Joe Cartagena (East Stroudsburg, PA /East Stroudsburg North ) added 6 points and 8 rebounds, as Northampton fell to 1-1 on the season.  "MVCC controlled the majority of the first half," remarked Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "but we were able to battle through foul trouble and keep it within 4 at halftime (28-24)."

MVCC increased their lead to 10 points early in the second half, but the Spartans battled back to tie the game at 46 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest.  The Spartans began to control the tempo with their halfcourt offense, but MVCC switched to a zone with under 8 minutes to play and the Spartans were unable to counter.  MVCC led by 8 with two minutes to play when Northampton started fouling, leading to the final 14 point margin.  

"We had our moments," stated McCarthy, "but we need to knock down a higher percentage from the field (27/67) and from the line (15/30) if we are to going beat teams of this caliber."

Isiah Hinton-Gray (Allentown, PA/William Allen ) also earned All Tournament team honors for Northampton, which is now off until Friday November 11th when they travel to Dundalk, Maryland to compete in the CCBC-Dundalk shootout. 

Mohawk, which competed in the NJCAA national tournament last year, improves to 3-0 with the victory.