By: Nazareth Athletics
ROCHESTER, NY – Junior Stephen Gabel scored 20 points and fellow junior Kevin Underwood added 19 points off the bench as the Nazareth College men's basketball team clinched at least a share of the regular season title in the Empire 8 Conference with an 87-69 victory over Sage College Saturday afternoon on Mike Daley Court in Kidera Gymnasium. Nazareth will host the 2020 Empire 8 Championship Tournament on Feb. 28-29.
Both players were in double digits scoring in the first half as Gabel scored 12 and Underwood added 10 to lead Nazareth (20-4 overall, 12-1 E8) to an early lead and a halftime edge of 53-27.
The Golden Flyers went on 12-0 run early in the first half with Gabel scoring six in the run and then added a 14-2 run a few minutes later to open up a 33-12 lead midway through the period.
Nazareth maintained at least a 20-point edge for most of the second half before Sage (14-10, 7-6 E8) cut the lead to 18 with less than a minute to play.
The Golden Flyers had built a 29-point lead three times in the early minutes of the second half after three-pointers by junior Isaac Nelson, sophomore Zach Stenglein and Gabel.
Senior Cody Green and sophomore Jonathan Park each scored 10 points and Park led the Golden Flyers with nine rebounds. Stenglein and Nelson also scored nine points each.
Nazareth shot 54.7 percent (35-for-64) from the field and connected on half of its three-pointers (11-of-22).
The victory sealed the Empire 8 regular season title with a 12-1 record. St. John Fisher is currently second in the standings at 11-2 but Nazareth won the first meeting between the schools and holds the head-to-head tie breaker with the season sweep over Sage.
The Golden Flyers and Cardinals will close out the regular season next Saturday at St. John Fisher.