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ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Elmira's Henry Cuffee scored a game-high 24 points, including the go-ahead free throw with 2.5 seconds left, to lift the Soaring Eagles to a stunning 81-80 upset win over visiting Nazareth in men's basketball action Saturday.

The tough loss snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped the Golden Flyers to 18-6 overall and 12-3 in the Empire 8 Conference. Combined with Alfred's 104-82 victory at St. John Fisher, the Golden Flyers are now in second place in the E8 standings, one game behind Alfred. The Golden Flyers travel to Alfred Tuesday for the teams' regular-season finale at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday's winner will gain the top seed and hosting privileges for next weekend's Empire 9 Conference Tournament.  Elmira, which lost at Nazareth 124-88 on Jan. 29, improved to 7-17 overall and 5-10 in conference play.

Cuffee's free throw -- the second of two shots -- enabled the Soaring Eagles to complete an improbable comeback against the Golden Flyers, who led by as many as 13 points in the first half and by 12 in the second.

After Brendan Wind scored for Nazareth with 1:33 left, Nazareth led 80-74, then didn't score again. Justin Porrett scored on the Soaring Eagles' next possession and then added two free throws with :52 left to draw Elmira to within 80-78. After a Nazareth turnover, Cuffee scored with :16 left to tie the score at 80-80.

On Nazareth's last possession, Jake Burgio missed on a game-tying shot attempt and Chris Jones fouled Cuffee on the rebound. Cuffee missed the first free throw and made the second.

The Golden Flyers appeared poised for a fourth straight win after building a 13-point lead in the first half, 30-17, following a three-point play by Stephen Gabel. Elmira battled back and was able to close to within four points by halftime, 42-38.

Nazareth went back to work in the second half and was able to build another double-digit advantage. A basket by Jones with 14:05 to go extended the lead to 57-45. The lead was still at 10, 70-60, after Wind scored with 6:42 left. The Eagles, though, were resilient as Cuffee and Porrett combined to score 25 points in the second half.

Burgio led Nazareth with 21 points and eight rebounds and Wind scored 15 with three assists. Cody Green came off the bench to hit four three-pointers -- all in the first half -- for 12 points and Jones finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Nazareth shot 32-for-68 (47.1%) from the field and 7-for-16 (43.8%) from three-point range. For Elmira, in addition to Cuffee, who also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, Porrett finished with 18 points and seven assists. Jeremy Every came off the bench to add 12 points, including a 10-for-10 effort from the free-throw line.