UTICA, NY - Men's hoops fell in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Tournament in a heartbreaking six-point loss to Utica 85-79. Jaylen Savage and Solomon McFarlane totaled 54 of Nazareth's 79 points in the loss.

With the loss, men's basketball concludes it's season with an overall record of 17-10 and a conference record of 11-5, going 10-3 at home, 5-7 away, and 2-0 in neutral site games. Utica with continue its season in the Empire 8 Championship round where Utica will be hosting SUNY Poly.

The entire game was a back and forth battle between the two teams. In the first half, neither team held a lead of more than seven points. The biggest lead of the half was held by Nazareth three times. The first was at the 13:54 mark when the Golden Flyers went up 13-6 the two teams then went on trading buckets to allow Nazareth to hover around that seven point lead for a few minutes of game play. Halfway through the first half, the Pioneers cut Nazareth's lead down to two at a score of 17-15. Once again, the teams traded buckets for the next few possessions to keep the deficit around two.

With 2:55 left in the half, Utica took the lead from Nazareth for the first time since the beginning of the game 30-27. McFarlane answered Utica's lead with a three to bring the score back to a tie. He then went on to drain two free throws to go up again 32-30. With under a minute left, the Pioneers made a layup to tie the game at 32 where it would stay through halftime.

The second half opened neck-and-neck, neither team holding a lead of more than two possessions until Utica went up 47-40 five minutes into the half. Utica took its first double-digit lead with 8:34 left in the game at 56-46. With four minutes and 17 seconds left in the game, Utica had its biggest lead at 69-55.

In the last minutes of play, Nazareth began to chip away at the lead, getting it down to four with 41 seconds left of game play. Utica continued to score and the Golden Flyers got the lead down to four two more times in those final seconds, but in the end, Utica come out on top with an 85-79 win.

Savage led the team in points with 28, while also grabbing seven boards, dishing out two assists, and swiping three steals. McFarlane had a career-high 26 points for Nazareth along with two steals. The third Golden Flyer in double digits was Jack Broderick with 11. Merritt Holly led the team in rebounds with 12, while also tacking on six points. Tyler Putney had five points and four boards, while teammate Luke Insley had four assists, two points, and two rebounds. Liam Hopwood grabbed five boards for the Golden Flyers and added a point on to the scoreboard.