MBB Minute - Nazareth Headlines Friday Winners
Nazareth 71, Elmira 65
Junior
Brad Ford scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and senior guard
Tyshun Stephens scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half Friday as visiting Nazareth defeated Elmira in an Empire 8 Conference men's basketball game, 71-65.
Nazareth improved its overall record to 9-4 and its E8 mark to 2-1. The Soaring Eagles dropped to 1-12 overall and 0-4 in conference games.
Ford scored 18 of his points in the first half when the Golden Flyers were building a seemingly insurmountable advantage. Nazareth led by as many as 16 points in the first half, 42-26, after junior
Scott Hayford sank three free throws. A basket by Kurt Dutcher and a pair of free throws by Brian McDonald enabled Elmira to close within 42-30, but Ford sank two foul shots with :01 on the clock to give Nazareth a 44-30 lead at the break.
Elmira used a 21-5 surge over the first 10 minutes of the second half to seize a 51-49 lead and the game remained close the rest of the way. Chris Cassidy spearheaded the scoring run by scoring 15 of his game-high 29 points in the first 10 minutes, including the go-ahead field goal to give the Soaring Eales their first lead of the game at 51-49.
A basket by Dutcher pushed the Elmira lead to three, 59-56, with 5:21 to play before Nazareth rallied. Stephens took over offensively for Nazareth down the stretch as he scored nine of his points over the last five minutes. He made two free throws with 4:06 to go to tie the score at 61-61. Then after Ford sank a free throw, Stephens made another basket with 3:12 to play to give Nazareth the lead for good at 64-61.
The score went unchanged until the final minute as each team missed opportunities. Junior
Jack Giles made four free throws in the final :31, Hayford also made a free throw and Stephens sank two more as Nazareth persevered. Hayford also finished with 10 points for the Golden Flyers.
Utica 85, Houghton 66
The Utica College men's basketball team had all five of its starters score in double-figures on its way to an 85-66 victory over Houghton College on Friday night. UC's
Connor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) led the Pioneers with 23 points and six rebounds, including a game-high five 3-pointers, while senior big man
Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School) added 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor.
The Pioneers have now won two of their last three contests and improved to 5-9 overall on the year. Sophomore
Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) netted 15 points and added four assists, while
Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) and
Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) combined for 24 points for the Pioneers. Jeffers also chipped in with a game-high 15 rebounds.
Houghton dropped to 0-13 overall on the year. Utica earned a strong 44-18 scoring advantage in the paint and the Pioneers also scored 23 total points off of 15 Highlander turnovers.
Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman),
Marty Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) and
Griffin Kelly (Watervliet, NY/Watervliet) came off the bench and combined for nine points. Maisch and Baldwin combined for nine three pointers and shot just over 40% from behind the arc.
Seth Shay netted a team-best 17 points for the Highlanders. Mark O'Brien netted eight points and added a team-best seven rebounds for the hosts.
St. John Fisher 82, Hartwick 54
The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team routed Hartwick College 82-54 in a come from behind Empire 8 win on Friday night in Oneonta. With the win, the Cardinals improved to 9-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference while the Hawks fell to 7-6, 0-3.
At 10:49 left in the opening period, Hartwick hit a free throw to extend its lead to 12 at 20-8. The Cardinals then outscored the Hawks 27-7 over the final 10 minutes of the first half to take a 35-27 lead into the break.
Tyler Hart led Fisher during the stretch, as the freshman was part of the surge to close the deficit that quickly turned to a positive margin.
The guard scored all 10 of his first half points in between 8:46 and 6:33 of the stanza. He made two 3-pointers and two layups while also collecting two boards in that 2:19 duration. Hart's final layup of the half capped a 14-2 run for the Cardinals and knotted the game at 22-22 with 6:33 remaining.
Adam Ambielli finished the half in red-hot fashion, hitting two 3-pointers in a :37 span with under two minutes to play, putting the Cardinals up eight at the intermission, their largest lead of the game.
Fisher opened the second half in much of the same fashion, with
Jason Norsen rejecting a shot and
Optimystik Kinard draining a three to set the mood for the rest of the game. The Cardinals would get their lead up to 35 with 3:15 remaining in the game.
Justin Plata led the way with 17 points, as he was one of four Fisher players to finish with double digits in scoring. Hart finished with 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the floor and a perfect 2-for-2 from 3-point range. Norsen finished with 11 points, five boards and two blocks while Ambielli closed out with 10 points.
Ryan Dalton, despite staying off the scoreboard, led the Cardinals with seven boards.
Stevens 72, Alfred 48
Sophomore forward
Patrick Sabatino (Westfield, N.J.) had a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 72-48 rout over visiting Alfred University Friday night at the Canavan Arena in Empire 8 men's basketball action.
Junior guard
Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) found Sabatino with a gorgeous, rim-shaking alley-oop on the first possession of the game, and after the Saxons took a brief 3-2 lead, the Ducks took the lead for good on another Sabatino layup and never looked back, cruising to a 24-point win in their first home game since November 25.
Leading 9-7 with 13:55 left in the opening period, Stevens went on what turned out to be a game-deciding 15-1 run over a span of 4:29. Skrelja started things with a driving layup and Sabatino followed with four-straight points of his own to make it 15-7. Junior guard
Phillip DeSeignora (Boston, Mass.) then converted a pair of turnovers into four points. On the latter, he knifed his way through the lane and sunk a pretty left-handed layup with a foul to make it 20-7 Ducks with 9:19 left in the first. Another DeSeignora steal led to a fast-break bucket from senior guard
Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.J.) and Stevens was rolling.
The lead ballooned to 22 when Skrelja tallied an old fashioned three-point play, and the Ducks went into the intermission leading 37-17, outscoring the Saxons 28-10 over the final 13-plus minutes.
Another Skrelja basket gave Stevens a 25-point margin 3:34 into the second period, and a pair at the line from Sabatino made it 50-24 Ducks with 14:14 left. Alfred then chipped away, getting within 17 with eight and change to go, but five-straight points from Jones pushed the lead back to 22, and Stevens cruised the rest of the way.
Sabatino was 8-for-10 from the field and 2-for-3 at the line, netting 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Jones finished with 17 points in 17 minutes, while Skrelja had 11 tallies, six rebounds, six assists and two steals. Junior forward
Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) finished with a game-high 11 boards, four points and two blocks, with DeSeignora leading the Stevens reserves with seven points and a pair of thefts. Freshman guard
Evan Klimchak (Readington, N.J.) had six points and a steal as well.
The Ducks shot 46.4 percent (26-for-56) from the field and 7-for-21 (33 percent) from three-point land. They hit 13 of their 18 free-throw attempts (72.2 percent) and finished the contest with a 35-24 edge on the glass. Stevens assisted on 17 of its 26 made baskets and had nine steals as a team. The Ducks also had 22 points off 17 Saxon turnovers, held a 38-24 advantage in the paint and a 10-0 margin in fast-break points.
Alfred shot just 34 percent for the game and hit four of their 20 attempts from three. The Saxons were 8-for-15 at the line and finished with 11 steals.