ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Nazareth men's basketball suffered a hard-fought defeat on Friday night against Russell Sage 76-58. The loss brings Nazareth's record to 14-9 overall and 9-5 in the Empire 8 Conference, while Sage improves to 14-9 overall and 7-7 in the conference.

The first half of the game was a nail-biter, neither team ever having a lead of over four points, with eight lead changes total over the span of the first 20 minutes. With two minutes and 35 seconds left in the first half, Nazareth was up by four. In those last two minutes, Sage went on an 8-0 run to give the Gators both the lead and the edge heading into the second half at a score of 35-31 in favor of Sage.

Within the first five minutes of the second half, Nazareth had gotten the Gator's lead down to a single possession at 43-40. However, this is as close as Sage would allow the Golden Flyers to get as the Gators started to slowly pull away, earning the first double-digit lead of the game at 59-48 with eight minutes left to go. With just under five minutes left to play, Nazareth was down by 20, a deficit that was too much to come back from. 

Luke Insley led the Golden Flyers in points and assists with 19 and four. Jaylen Savage led the team in rebounds with seven, while also adding 18 points. Nazareth's next highest scorer was Tyler Putney who had seven points and three rebounds. Jack Broderick and Solomon McFarlane each had four points, while McFarlane also tallied four rebounds. Freshman Merritt Holly grabbed six boards and had three points, while teammates Will Burnett and Liam Hopwood added two and one point respectively.

The Golden Flyers will be back in action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as they take on Hartwick and celebrate their seniors on Senior Day.