UTICA, NY – A furious comeback under a minute to play came up short for the Nazareth men's basketball team in the Empire 8 Championship game at Utica on Saturday, as the Pioneers were victorious 97-90. Logan Blankenberg led the Golden Flyers with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Luke Insley had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists, his second of the season. He
 was awarded the Empire 8 Torchbearer Award given to the junior or senior participating in the championship with the highest GPA. The junior holds a 3.97 GPA in Physical Therapy.
 
Nazareth finishes the season 19-8 overall, while Utica (24-3) earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championships.
 
Trailing by 11 points with :45 seconds to play, Nazareth began a furious attempt at a comeback. Tyler Putney started it off with a 3-pointer, followed by an inbounds pass steal and a Putney layup. He finished the game with 12 points. 
 
On the ensuing inbounds, a long pass to midcourt was deflected by Luke Insley and stolen before a Blankenberg 3-pointer cut the lead to 92-89 with :27 seconds to play.
 
Utica was able to cash in on an over-the-top pass off the inbounds play and Nazareth came up empty on the other end which put the game out of reach.
 
The Golden Flyers were unable to overcome the hot shooting offense of the Pioneers in the second half, who shot 61 percent on 20-for-33.  Utica led by as many as 13 in the second half with 6:14 to play before Putney and Blankenberg notched 3-pointers and Jordan Haggard a layup to cut the lead to 75-70 with just over five minutes to play. Utica quicky went on a 8-2 run to go up by 11 points.
 
Nazareth shot 50 percent in the opening half, 15-for-30.
 
It was a closely contested first half, with Utica's largest lead being six points, including a 34-28 advantage with 3:41 left on the clock.
 
Later in the half Jaylen Savage put in a layup, followed by a Ryan Broderick 3-pointer to tie the game at 36. The Pioneers scored on the final possession of the half to take a 40-38 lead into halftime. 
 
Savage finished 7-for-11 for 17 points, with four assists. Haggard also had 17 points on 6-for-9.