Nazareth, Fisher, Stevens and Alfred all Win on Friday Night
Nazareth 62, Ithaca 61
Nazareth's tenacious defense held off three scoring opportunities in the final five seconds to edge visiting Ithaca, 62-61, in a men's Empire 8 basketball game on Friday evening. In the victory, freshman Maurice Mills recorded his first-career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
With the victory, the Golden Flyers improve to 5-5 in Empire 8 contests and 13-8 overall. The Bombers drop to 8-2 in conference games and 13-6 overall. Nazareth moved into sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings with Friday's victory as Utica lost to Stevens to fall to 5-6 in the E8. The top four teams qualify for the Empire 8 tournament, February 22-23.
With Nazareth clinging to a 62-60 lead, Ithaca had three chances to tie the score or take the lead in the final five seconds. Junior Brad Ford was whistled for a block as he tried to draw a charge on Frank Mitchell. Mitchell, a 70 percent free-throw shooter made the first free throw, then missed the second. Jordan Healey was credited with the offensive rebound. With just over a second remaining, Mills stole the ensuing inbounds pass from Ithaca, however, he was whistled for traveling with .3 seconds to play. The Bombers were able to get the ball inbounds but the Golden Flyers prevented Ithaca from getting a shot off as the ball was lobbed toward the Golden Flyers' basket.
St. John Fisher 59, Elmira 51
The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team improved to 13-8 overall and more importantly, 7-4 in the Empire 8 Conference with a 59-51 win at Elmira on Friday night. Fisher never trailed in the game and withstood several attempts for a comeback by the Soaring Eagles late in the second half.
The Cardinals would go up by 14 early in the second half. Fisher was able to handle several surges by the Soaring Eagles, keeping the lead above seven for a good portion of the period.
Elmira saved its largest run at the lead late, cutting the advantage all the way down to three points in favor of Fisher, but the Cardinals showed poise from the foul line.
Justin Plata led Fisher with 17 points while Chaz Lott scored 15, including multiple traditional 3-point plays. Jason Norsen finished with 12 points on 60% shooting while grabbing a game-high boards.
Stevens 85, Utica 77
Senior guard Sheldon Jones scored 29 points on just 17 shots to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 85-77 win over Utica College Friday night.
With the win, the Ducks move to 17-3 overall and 8-2 in the conference. The Ducks are now tied with Ithaca College for first place in the Empire standings as the Bombers dropped a 62-61 heartbreaker at Nazareth College Friday. Utica falls to 5-6 in the league and 8-13 overall.
Down the stretch, Utica fought within seven points several times but the Ducks hit some big shots – namely a tough 15-footer from Matt Skrelja and a nifty layup from Jones – and made their free throws to close out the win.
In addition to Jones, sophomore forward Patrick Sabatino had a nice game with 18 points, four rebounds and four blocked shots, with Russ Thompson scoring 11 points and dishing out four assists.
Matt Baldwin, sophomore guard Aaron Nevins, junior forward Chris Jeffers, junior forward Conor Maisch and sophomore guard Marion Lewis
all scored in double figures for Utica with Jeffers grabbing a game-high eight rebounds.
Alfred 89, Houghton 67
The Alfred University men’s basketball team picked up a 89-67 victory over Houghton College, Friday evening at McLane Center.
The game stayed close up until there was about 13 minutes remaining in the match. AU blew open a lead and did not look back, outscoring Houghton 55-35 in the second half. For the game, AU outshot Houghton in every aspect, shooting 62 percent from the field, 57 percent from the free throw line, and an impressive 62 percent from beyond the arc.
Junior guard Thomas Tsatsis went on a 16 point tear in the second half, finishing with a double-double of 20 points (game-high) and 10 rebounds (team-high) to pace the Saxons.