Pittsford, NY – The Utica College men's basketball team lost to host Nazareth College 82-72 in Empire 8 Conference action on Thursday night. UC's Ivan Iton (Ossining, NY/Ossining) netted a career-high 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor and grabbed nine rebounds in the loss.

The Pioneers (2-11, 2-2 Empire 8) snapped a two game winning streak while Nazareth improved to 7-5 overall and picked up its first Empire 8 victory of the season.

Carl Taylor (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) posted 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Utica, while junior point guard Bennito Ayarza (Brooklyn, NY/Cayuga Community College) chipped in with 10 points and two steals.  Freshman Hunter Remley (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) was held to just five points on 1-of-10 shooting from the floor.

Nazareth was led by 32 points and 14 rebounds from Tyler Stenglein, while Brendan Wind and Daniel Jacob each added 11 points in the victory for the Golden Flyers.

Nazareth jumped out to a six point lead, 21-15, after a 3-pointer by Stenglein midway through the first half. The home team extended its lead to eight points until UC used a 9-3 run to cut its deficit to just two points, 36-34, with one minute left in the first half of play. The Golden Flyers took a three point lead, 39-36, into the locker room at the half.

Nazareth extended its lead to as many as eight points after two free throws by Denzell Jackson 2:20 into the second half of play.  The Pioneers answered with a 15-6 run, capped by a layup by Bennito Ayarza (Brooklyn, NY/Cayuga Community College), to give the visitors their first lead of the second half, 52-51, with 12:09 left in regulation. Nazareth responded with a 17-8 run in the next 7:10 of the contest to push to an eight point lead, 68-60, with 4:59 left in the contest. The Pioneers were able to cut their deficit to four points down the stretch, but that was as close as they would get as Nazareth pulled away late and earned the ten point victory. 

The Nazareth defense held UC to 2-for-15 (13.3%) shooting from beyond the arc on the evening.

UC returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Elmira College to take on the Soaring Eagles in Empire 8 action at 4 p.m.