ROCHESTER, NY – Graduate student Logan Blankenberg scored 22 points and sophomore Jaylen Savage added 20 points to lead the Nazareth University Men's Basketball team to a 92-85 win over St. John Fisher Thursday night in the Empire 8 Tournament semifinal game at Kidera Gym.

Nazareth (19-7) will face No. 1 seed Utica University at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Empire 8 Tournament championship after the Pioneers downed Alfred 70-61 in the other semifinal. The Golden Flyers dropped an overtime decision to Utica early in the conference schedule and then posted an 86-74 win at Utica January 30 in the second meeting between the teams.

The Golden Flyers fell behind early but battled back to take a 37-36 lead into the halftime break.

The teams battled back-and-forth for nearly the entire second half with 12 ties and 12 lead changes in the final 20 minutes.

The turning point came with just over five minutes to play in the game. After junior Kule Insley hit a pair of free throws to put Nazareth up 67-64, Blankenberg forced a turnover and Savage pushed the ball through the St. John Fisher defense to find sophomore Solomon McFarlane open in the corner as he drained a 3-pointer to give Nazareth a six-point lead at 70-64.

After the teams traded baskets, McFarlane hit another 3-pointer from the top of the key as Nazareth pushed ahead by seven at 75-68.

The Cardinals trimmed the lead to three at 77-74 with 1:54 to play but free throws by Insley, McFarlane and graduate student Jordan Haggard sealed the victory.

Blankenberg finished with a team-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and three 3-pointers with eight rebounds while Savage finished with 20 points with 7-of-14 shooting and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.