Box l Updated Stats

Rochester, NY – The Nazareth men's basketball squad suffered its first defeat of the 2017-18 season Tuesday, falling 88-82 to a physical Buffalo State squad.  Junior Jake Burgio had a career-high 29 points (11-for-16) and grabbed 13 rebounds. Cody Green tied a career-high with 23 points on 9-for-18 from the field – he went 5-for-10 from 3-point land. 

Nazareth drops to 2-1 on the season, while the Bengals improve to 2-1. 

After trailing by as many 13 in the second half, Nazareth came within two points, 84-82, with :55 seconds to play following Burgio's 29^th point. 

Nazareth, however, was not able to score again, allowing the Bengals to pull through in the end.

The Golden Flyers got off to a rough start in the game and trailed 14-4 six minutes in after starting the game 3-for-13 from the floor. 

At the midway point of the half, Burgio putback a missed shot to bring the Bengals lead to 19-12.  He had 14 first half points on 5-for-9 from the field. 

The junior forward continued to go to work in the post, scoring the next six points and a 3-pointer from Green made it 23-19 with 7:30 left on the clock. 

Green scored two of his nine first half points as time expired, making it 38-34 in favor of the Bengals at halftime.   

Early in the second, Stephen Gabel drained a jumper to even the score at 39 apiece.  He finished the game (5-for-11) for 12 points, while adding seven rebounds.

After a quick eight-point burst from Buffalo State, Nazareth clawed back, including a 3-pointer from Isaac Nelson which made it 51-47 nearly six minutes into the half.

The Bengals put together a 9-0 spurt to build their largest lead at 60-47 with 12:41 remaining which proved to be a pivotal run in the game. 

The Golden Flyers hung around though - Green's fifth 3-pointer of the game with just over seven minutes remaining brought it to 74-66.

Nelson had seven points, while Brendan Broderick had four assists. 

Nazareth returns home next Tuesday, hosting Oswego State at 7 p.m.