Utica, NY (Feb. 13, 2009) - The Utica College men's basketball team defeated visiting Nazareth College 92-86 in Empire 8 Conference play Friday night on the hardwood at the Clark Athletic Center. Patrick Goodman scored a career-high 24 points off the bench for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers have now won four straight games, including three consecutive conference contests, and improved to 14-8 overall and 8-5 in the E8. With the win UC is now tied for third place in the conference with St. John Fisher and they take a one game lead on Nazareth as they jockey for position down the stretch to earn one of the coveted top four seeds in the Empire 8. Nazareth dropped to 10-12 overall and 7-6 in conference play.
UC extended its lead to as many as seven points, 24-17, after Patterson netted a lay-up just over six minutes into the contest. The Golden Flyers answered with an 8-0 run to take a one point lead, 25-24, with 10:45 to go in the first half of play. UC responded with a 15-6 run and they found themselves with a commanding eight point lead, 45-37, with 2:14 left in the first. Nazareth closed the gap to just one point by mounting a 9-2 run to close the out the half. The first half featured six ties but just four lead changes.
Nazareth opened the second half with a bucket to take a one point lead but that would be their final lead of the contest as Patterson answered with two of his 19 points. Nazareth cut the UC lead to one point on nine different occasions in the second half but they could never seem to convert on the lead-changing bucket. UC went on a 12-4 run over the course of 2:43 in the second half to jump out to a nine point lead, 80-71, with 5:13 remaining in the contest. The Golden Flyers were not able to close the gap any further than five points for the remained of the game as the Pioneers earned the key conference win.
Sophomore guard James Patterson netted 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Doug Herring totaled 17 points to cap his illustrious four year career, playing in his final home game as a Pioneer.
Corey McAdam led all scorers with 28 points and he added five assists, while Jason Carletta netted 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Corey's brother Ryan MCAdam totaled 16 points and nabbed four steals for the Golden Flyers.
UC returns to action Sunday when they travel to Stevens Institute of Technology for a key Empire 8 Conference contest at 4 p.m. Nazareth continues its three-game road trip with a stop at RIT on Tuesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
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