UTICA, NY – The second-seeded men's basketball team could not overcome shooting under 35 percent from the field (22-for-63), falling at the hands of fourth-seeded St. John Fisher, 78-62, in the Empire 8 Championship game on Saturday at Utica University. Jonathan Park led Nazareth with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Park was named to the All-Tournament Team. He averaged 14.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks, while shooting 67 percent from the floor in two games with a pair of double-doubles. 
 
Fisher controlled the first half, leading by as many as 15 points on several occasions, taking advantage of the Golden Flyers poor shooting performance. For the game, Nazareth shot just 13.6 percent (3-for-22) from 3-point range.
 
The lead for Fisher was 39-26 at the half.
 
In the second, the Cardinals got the lead to 16 with 6:17 to play before the Golden Flyers were able to chip away. Nazareth held Fisher scoreless for over two minutes and went on a 10-0 run to pull within 67-61 with four minutes to play.
 
The game then saw no scoring for over two minutes, before the Cardinals scored the next 10 points of their own to put the game out of reach.
 
Luke Insley had 10 points for Nazareth and four rebounds. Jack Broderick chipped in nine points and five boards, while Zach Stenglein added seven points and two steals.
 
Jordan Haggard also had nine points.
 
Nazareth still has a chance for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after finishing the season 21-6. Fisher earns the automatic berth to the tournament for the first time since 2019-20. The selection show is set for Monday at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.