ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Visiting Rensselaer, down by as many as 20 points in the first half, outscored Nazareth 35-24 in the second half to rally past the Golden Flyers for a 61-60 men's basketball victory in the championship game of the Mike Daley Tournament at the Kidera Gymnasium.
The disappointing loss was the first of the season for the Golden Flyers, who will bring a 2-1 record into this weekend's Mark's Pizzeria Shootout Tournament at Nazareth. Rensselaer improved to 2-0. Medaille defeated Cazenovia 88-77 in the consolation game. Rensselaer's Patrick Mahoney had 11 points in the championship game, including a key bucket with :29 left to put the Engineers up 61-58, to gain tournament MVP honors. Mason Memmelaar (16 points) and Dom Black (10 points) also made the all-tournament team for the Engineers.
Stephen Gabel (8 points) and
Isaac Nelson (6 points) represented the Golden Flyers. Rodney Graves scored 42 points in the first game for Medaille and made the all-tournament team.
Saturday's final was a tale of two halves for the Golden Flyers, who surged to a first-half lead thanks to some hot outside shooting. Nazareth made 13 of 21 first half shots (61.9 percent) compared to 8-for-27 (29.6 percent) for Rensselaer. Nazareth's
Jonathan Park went 5-for-5 from the floor in the first half for 10 points. Park's basket with 6:14 left in the first half gave the Golden Flyers their largest lead at 32-12. The Engineers came back, though, to cut the deficit in half by the intermission as Mahoney's three-pointer triggered a 14-4 scoring run to close out the half.
The Engineers finally took the lead with less than seven minutes to play on a basket by Memmelaar. Nazareth, meanwhile, struggled to shoot in the second half in making just 8 of 31 shots (25.1 percent). Rensselaer's lead grew as large as seven points, 57-50, with 3:50 left. A basket by Park and a pair of three-pointers by
Zach Stenglein sparked a comeback that brought Nazareth within one point, 61-60, in the closing seconds. Nazareth had chances to win at the end, but Nelson and Gabel each misfired from long-distance as the Engineers prevailed.
Stenglein led Nazareth with 19 points. Park added 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Nazareth hosts two games on Thursday and two more Saturday in the Mark's Pizzeria Shootout. Nazareth plays Rochester Thursday at 8 p.m. That game will be preceded by St. John Fisher vs. RIT at 6 p.m. On Saturday, Nazareth plays RIT at 8 p.m. and Fisher and Rochester square off at 6.
