UTICA, N.Y. -- After a school-record winning streak fell by the wayside Tuesday against St. John Fisher, Nazareth dropped its second straight in men's basketball Friday as the Golden Flyers relinquished sole possession of first place in the Empire 8 Conference with a 82-67 loss to Utica.
The Golden Flyers came into the week ranked 23rd nationally by d3hoops.com and were riding a 17-game winning streak. Friday's loss dropped them to 19-3 overall and 11-2 in conference play. Utica, meanwhile, is on a nine-game winning streak of its own as the Pioneers moved into first place in the league standings with an 11-1 mark in conference games. They stand at 18-3 overall. Utica, Nazareth and St. John Fisher have each clinched berths in the Empire 8 Conference Tournament that will be contested Feb. 25-26.
In Friday's game, Nazareth went down early and couldn't catch up as Utica shot well from three-point range in particular by hitting 16 of 25 long-range shots (64 percent), including 10 of 13 (76.9 percent) in the second half.
Stephen Gabel scored 19 points to lead Nazareth.
Kevin Underwood scored 13 and
Logan Blankenberg had 10.
Jonathan Park had nine points and 12 rebounds.
Underwood sank two free throws with 6:25 left in the first half to tie the score at 21-21. Utica followed with a three-pointer on its next possession, which triggered a 13-5 scoring run that closed out the first half with the Pioneers on top 34-26. Nine of those points came off three-pointers.
The Golden Flyers appeared poised for a second-half rally as they scored the first seven points of the half -- a three-point play by Blankenberg on the opening possession and back to back jumpers by Gabel -- but the Pioneers stifled that with as 21-7 scoring run that pushed them in front by 15, 55-40, with 12:31 to go.
After that, Utica's lead never left double digits as the Pioneers continued to knock down shots as they nailed five more three-pointers over the final 10 minutes.
Utica's victory avenged an earlier drubbing at the hands of the Golden Flyers, 79-39, back on Jan. 15 at Nazareth. Both teams return to action Saturday with Nazareth hosting Keuka at 4 p.m. in its the final regular-season home game. Utica hosts Fisher at 4 p.m.
