Men’s Basketball Falls in Closing Seconds in Championship Game

ROCHESTER, NY – Sophomore Jaylen Savageconnected on a three-point play with less than 30 seconds left in the game for the Nazareth University Men’s Basketball team as the Golden Flyers tied the game at 68-68 but a jumper with 10 seconds left and a pair of free throws with just three seconds remaining gave visiting York (PA) College a 72-68 win Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Mike Daley Memorial Tournament in Kidera Gym.

Savage led Nazareth (1-1) with 22 points and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team. Graduate student Logan Blankenberg was also named to the All-Tournament team after scoring 11 points and grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds for the Golden Flyers. Canton’s Moe Biao was named to the team along with Jackson Mascari and Kai Cipalla from York. Jayden Rowe, who finished with 31 points for the Spartans in the championship game, was named the Tournament MVP.

Nazareth took a 33-29 lead into the halftime break as Savage led the team with eight points in the opening 20 minutes.

Nazareth held the lead for the first seven minutes of the second half until Rowe hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 45-45.

The Spartans stretched the lead to as many as eight points later in the half but a pair of Savage free throws closed the gap to two points at 68-66 with 1:49 left to play.

After a layup for York, Savage hit 1-of-2 from the line and then converted the three-point play to tie the score after a steal by graduate student Jordan Haggard.

Savage led Nazareth with 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, sophomore Luke Insley had 13 points and six assists while Blankenberg finished with his double-double on 11 points and 11 rebounds. Haggard also scored in double figures with 10 points off the bench.

Nazareth will face the University of Rochester Thursday in the first round of the Mark’s Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout Tournament at St. John Fisher.