UTICA, N.Y. - Nazareth men's basketball defeated SUNY Poly on the road on Friday night, out-shooting the Wildcats by 20 percent. Merritt Holly had a double-double, leading the team in both buckets and boards with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

With the win, Nazareth's record improves to 14-5 overall and 9-1 in conference play, while the Wildcats drop to 12-7 overall and 7-3 in the conference.

Nazareth came out strong in the first half, holding a double-digit lead after about nine minutes of play. In the final 11 minutes of the first half, SUNY Poly battled back a little bit, trading buckets with the Golden Flyers to keep Nazareth's lead at 11 heading into the second half. In the first half, the Golden Flyers shot 45.16 percent from the field and 42.86 percent from the three.

In the second half, the Flyers stepped it up even more, going 31-60 from the field to shoot an impressive 58.62 percent including 2-5 from behind the arc. Nazareth's numbers proved to be hard to rally against, and SUNY Poly fell to the Golden Flyers at a score of 74-56.

Holly went 9-10 from the field and 3-3 from the free-throw line to earn his 21-point, 12-rebound double-double. The next highest scorer was Jack Broderick with 15 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Luke Insley dropped 13 points, dished out six assists, and pulled down four rebounds. Tyler Putney added 11 points to the board, and grabbed two rebounds. Jaylen Savage tallied seven points on the night, while also grabbing six boards, serving three assists, and having two steals. Ryan Broderick and Will Burnett added three and two points respectively, while Solomon McFarlane also had two points and two rebounds. Liam Hopwood was also on the sheet with four rebounds.

The Golden Flyers will be back in action on February 1 at 4 p.m. at Utica for another conference match-up.