Men’s Basketball Tames Wildcats 85-68
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Men’s basketball took home another conference win on Saturday evening, serving the visiting SUNY Poly Wildcats its first conference loss. Junior Jaylen Savage led the Golden Flyers with 25 points.
With the win, the Golden Flyers improve its record to 9-4 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8 Conference, while the Wildcats drop to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
The Golden Flyers started the first half off strong, scoring on all of the first eight shots they took. Nazareth did not tally a miss in the first half until the 13:52 minute mark, when the Golden Flyers were up 22-13. A back and forth battle followed Nazareth’s impressive start, and the Wildcats were able to recover a little in a Nazareth dry spell that lasted for the last four minutes of the game. SUNY Poly cut the lead to six at a score of 37-31 heading into the second half.
Savage, Solomon McFarlane, and Tyler Putney each had eight points in the first half, while Merritt Holly and Luke Insley added four a piece. Jack Broderick and Will Burnettadded three and two respectively.
In the second half, the Wildcats had Nazareth’s lead down to one in just over one minute of play. The teams then traded buckets for about the next three minutes of game play when Nazareth finally went up by two possessions. However, back-to-back threes put SUNY Poly up by one with just over 14 minutes left in the half. At the 12:54 minute mark, Nazareth was up by three and went on an eight point run over the next three minutes. The eleven point deficit was too much for the Wildcats to handle, and Nazareth was able to close out the game at a score of 85-68.
Savage finished the game with 25 points, 17 of which were in the second half. He also added seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Putney was Nazareth’s next highest scorer with 16 points and two rebounds. McFarlane had 14 points, as well as three steals. Holly had nine points and seven rebounds, while Insley had eight points and six assists. J. Broderick counted five points and five rebounds, while Liam Hopwood found four points and six boards. Burnett and Marcus Shepard each finished the game with two points, while Burnett added two rebounds. Ryan Broderick and Gabe Lucarelli each came up with two rebounds.
The Golden Flyers will be back in action on January 17th at 7:30 p.m. as they travel to Hartwick for another conference competition.
Four In Double Figures As Men’s Basketball Rolls Utica, 83-60
ROCHESTER, NY – In a rematch of last year’s Empire 8 Championship game, the Nazareth men’s basketball team proved dominant with a 83-60 victory on Friday night at Kidera Gymnasium. Four scorers for Nazareth netted double figures, headlined by freshman Merritt Holly tallying a double-double with 19 points and13 rebounds.
Nazareth, winners of four straight, is now 8-4 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Utica drops to 6-5 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Holly gave Nazareth a 10-point lead with 6:29 left in the half at 25-15 and Nazareth led by the double digits the rest of the way.
It was 43-25 at the half.
Nazareth shot an impressive 18-for-31 in the first half, including going 5-for-8 from 3-point land. They finished the game at nearly 51 percent on 32-for-63, while Utica was 20-for-52 (38.5 percent).
Jack Broderick had a season-high 17 points on 8-of-10 from the field in 18 minutes of action. Jaylen Savage scored in double figures with 16 points, marking 11 of 12 games this season.
Solomon McFarlane was 4-for-7 for 10 points, while Luke Insley had eight assists.
Nazareth hosts SUNY Poly on Saturday at 4 p.m. in another Empire 8 matchup.