BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton Men's Basketball team held off a second half surge by the SUNY-Adirondack Timberwolves to capture the Northampton Tip-Off Tournament Championship, 74-70, on Sunday afternoon at the Arthur L. Scott Center.

Northampton battled a bit of a slow start in the opening 10 minutes of the title game and found themselves trailing a persistent pack of Timberwolves that had jumped out to a 16-10 advantage. The Spartans battled back and were able to find their spark behind some timely veteran shooting.

Sophomore Forward Deyishon Miller (Philadelphia, PA/West Philadelphia High School) drilled a 3 point basket to cut the early lead down to 3 and teammate Kevin Rucker (Philadelphia, PA/Monsignor Bonner Prendergast) followed with back to back baskets from beyond the ark to swing the lead in favor of the Spartans, 19-16.The Spartans extended their lead to as many as 17 points and carried the momentum to a 46-31 lead heading into the intermission.

"Bit of a slow start and felt we got things going about half way through the first half," commented Spartans Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "We had some big shots that allowed us to find our rhythm and felt we did a nice job controlling the tempo going into the half."

SUNY-Adirondack kept pace with the Spartans through the second half and eventually knotted the score at 61-61 with just 4:44 remaining. A quick Timberwolves steal and basket at the 2:54 mark and the Spartans had lost their lead, 66-65.

"Give SUNY Adirondack credit they battled us all game, explained Brennan McCarthy, "This was a battle from the beginning and proud of our guys for how they battled today and all weekend."

Kevin Rucker (Philadelphia, PA/Monsignor Bonner Prendergast), who led all scorers with 30 points and 11 rebounds, connected on a pair of free throws to put the Spartans back on top at 67-66.The sophomore guard was also 14-17 from the free throw line and 4 of 9 from three point range. Tournament MVP Terrence Cobb (Chester, PA/STEM Academy) connected to put the Spartans up 69-66 with two minutes to play and the Spartans were able to hold off another late push by the Timberwolves to seal the 74-70 victory.

Cobb finished with 12 points and had 3 steals, while Deyishon Miller (Philadelphia, PA/West Philadelphia High School) scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

The Spartans are 2-0 overall.

SUNY-Adirondack heads back to upstate NY with a 1-1 overall mark to open the season.

The Spartans, ranked #12 in the NJCAA national poll, will be back on the floor on Saturday, November 8th when they travel to Paterson, NJ to open Region 19 play against the Panthers of Passaic County Community College at the PCCC Fieldhouse at 2pm.

Northampton Tip-Off Tournament All-Tournament Team

• Desmond Handon Jr. (Penn Highlands Community College)
• Amir Reushell-Sanders (Nassau Community College)
• JP Dickerson (SUNY-Adirondack)
• Mekhi Shillingford (Philadelphia, PA/Penn Wood High School) (Northampton Community College)
• Terrence Cobb (Chester, PA/STEM Academy) (Northampton Community College) - MVP