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ALFRED, N.Y. – Second-seeded Nazareth suffered a disappointing fate in men's basketball Friday as the Golden Flyers were eliminated in the semifinals of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament by third-seeded St. John Fisher, 98-90 in overtime.
The Cardinals outscored the Golden Flyers 19-11 in the extra five-minute period and most likely ended the Golden Flyers' season at Alfred University's Galanis Family Arena. Fisher will top-seeded and host Alfred in Saturday's championship game at 3:30 p.m. Alfred defeated Stevenson 80-57 in the first game. Saturday's winner gains an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Flyers finish 18-8 overall.
Five Nazareth players scored in double figures, led by
Brendan Wind's 24 points.
Jake Burgio and
Tyler Stenglein each scored 17 points.
Chris Jones had 15 and
Stephen Gabel 12. Burgio and Jones each grabbed 13 rebounds in their final college game.
Nazareth had difficulty containing Fisher's three-pronged offensive attack that featured 33 points from Jason Leone, including 10 in overtime; 22 points from Empire 8 Player of the Year Ryan Henderson and 17 from Sammy Robinson.
Nazareth played well in stretches and led by as many as 10 points, 33-23, following a three-point basket by Burgio with 8:30 left in the first half. The Golden Flyers eventually settled for a four-point lead, 47-43, at the half with Stenglein contributing 13 of his points, Burgio 12 and Jones 10.
Fisher came back in the second half to take an eight-point lead, 75-67, following a three-pointer by Leone with 2:37 left. Nazareth battled back by getting a pair of three-pointers from Gabel, baskets by Stenglein and Burgio and a buzzer-beating jumper in the paint by Wind to force overtime with the score tied at 79-79.
Fisher dominated the overtime by scoring the first six points and hitting 5-of-7 shots and 9-of-12 free throws and Nazareth couldn't recover. The Golden Flyers' offensive issues to compounded by missing eight free throws in the second half and another in overtime. Nazareth shot 17-for-28 (60.7%) from the line overall and 32-for-81 (39.5%) from th field.
