ROCHESTER, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team rallied from a seven point deficit with 3:19 remaining and Ian Henderson (Chateaugay, NY/Chateaugay) drilled a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to put the Pioneers up for good as UC went on to defeat host Nazareth College 73-70 on Friday night.  Utica senior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) tallied a team-high 19 points, including five points in the final 1:01 of the game, and he also became the 15^th player in program-history to join the 1,000 point club. 

Jeffers, who now has 1,017 career points, joined classmate Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) in the College's 1,000 point club. He now also has 793 career rebounds and he is just the third player in program-history to register 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career. 

The contest featured seven ties and 11 lead changed.  Nazareth held the lead for the majority (88.3%, 35:20) of the contest, and their largest lead of eight points came at the 13:51 marker of the second half. 

Utica's Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) also added 19 points (3-of-4 shooting from 3-point) and Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) finished the game with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.  Henderson finished the night with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. The Pioneers shot 8-of-19 from 3-point land on the afternoon. 

Naz opened up a 24-17 lead in the first 11:05 of the contest behind 9-of-17 shooting from the floor and nine points from Mitch Ford. Naz maintained its lead through the first half and held a 36-32 advantage at the intermission.

The Golden Flyers then opened the second half with a 14-8 run to take their largest lead of the contest, 50-42, with 13:51 remaining in regulation. The Pioneers answered right back with a 7-0 run in a span of 3:57 to cut their deficit to just one point, 50-49, midway through the second half.

Naz then went on an 18-12 run in the next 6:35 to take a seven point lead, 68-61, with 3:19 left.

Conor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) and Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) started the Pioneer comeback with back to back layups to cut Naz's lead to three points, 68-65, with 1:44 left. Jeffers then nailed a clutch 3-pointer with 1:01 left to knot the score at 68-68.  Naz's Mitch Ford gave the home team the lead back when he tipped in the Golden Flyer's final points of the game with 29 seconds left.

Henderson then gave the Pioneers the lead for good when he hit his third 3-pointer of the game with just 15 second left and the Pioneers held Naz scoreless on its next possession to seal the victory. 

Ford finished the night with a game-high 30 points and 16 rebounds to pace the Golden Flyers, while Utica native Maurice Mills added 16 points and seven rebounds for Naz.

Utica shot 46.4% from the floor on the afternoon and held the home team to 38.8% (26-67) shooting.

Utica's record moved to 9-14 overall on the year and 5-9 in the Empire 8, while Nazareth's record dropped to 8-13 overall and 4-8 in conference play. 

The Pioneers return to action the road Saturday when they travel to Houghton College to take on the Highlanders at 4 p.m.