ROCHESTER, NY – On Saturday evening, men's basketball had a comeback win to survive and advance in the Empire 8 tournament. Nazareth was down by 17 points with 12 minutes left in the second half and came back to win the game 73-65.
The beginning of the first half was very back and forth, neither team holding a double-digit lead until the Gators went up 27-16 with under 10 minutes left in the half. In the last minutes of the half, Nazareth was able to cut the lead down to eight and headed into the locker room down 38-30.
Scoring for the Golden Flyers in the first half was
Jaylen Savage with 13,
Liam Hopwood with six,
Merritt Holly and
Tyler Putney with four,
Jack Broderick with two, and
Solomon McFarlane with one.
The second half began with a 6-0 run from Russell Sage to put the Gators up by 14 in the first five minutes of the half. By the 12:12 minute mark, the Gators had extended its lead to 17 at 51-34.
Backs against the wall, Nazareth began to dig out of the hole with an 11-0 run to get the lead back down to six while the fans roared from the stands. After allowing a few buckets from Sage, Nazareth went on another run, this time 14-2 to tie up the score at 57 with three minutes and 43 seconds left to play.
After a made layup from Sage, Nazareth again went on a run while forcing Sage into missed shots and turnovers. With two minutes and 10 seconds left, Putney drained a big three to give Nazareth its first multi-possession lead of the game at 65-59. With one minute left, Nazareth went up 67-59 in their biggest lead of the game. Nazareth took the win at a score of 73-65.
Fun fact: In the last 12 minutes of game play, Nazareth went on a total run of 39-14. Fourteen of Nazareth's points in the last minutes of the game belong to Savage.
Savage led the scoring efforts with 29 points total while also adding eight rebounds. J Broderick and Putney were the other Golden Flyers in double digits, scoring 14 and 12 respectively while Putney also added four rebounds. Holly led the rebounding efforts with nine while also putting up seven points. Hopwood had a well-rounded game with six points, six rebounds, two steals, and two assists, while McFarlane put up five points, grabbed three rebounds, and snatched four steals.
Luke Insley led the team in assists with five.
With the win, the Golden Flyers will advance to the semifinal round at #2 Utica on Wednesday, February 26.
