Rochester, NY - In a battle between two of the top three teams in the Empire 8 standings, the Utica College men's basketball team fell to Nazareth College 72-63 on Monday night.
 
The Golden Flyers held a 30-28 advantage over Utica heading into halftime before opening the second half on an 11-0 run. The Pioneers battled back throughout the remainder of the game, trailing by as many as 19 points with just under 14 minutes remaining in the game, to fall by nine at the end.
 
 
UC outdueled Nazareth down low, outsourcing the opposition 32-14 inside the paint. The team also out rebounded Nazareth 38-34 and were able to capitalize on 18 second chance points to the Golden Flyers five. However, the Pioneers were held to 2/14 shooting from three while the Golden Flyers used its 41.9 percent three point shooting to make the difference in the game. Utica shot 38.6 percent from the field over the course of the game while Nazareth converted on 45.6 percent of its total shots.
 
 
Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) packed the box score for the Pioneers, posting an 11 point, 10 rebound double-double in the losing effort. Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) was the leading scorer for Utica as he put up 17 points to go along with four rebounds. Freshman Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) also finished with double figures finishing the game with 11 points.
 
 
Nazareth was led by Jordan Haggard who finished the game with 25 points and five rebounds. Stephen Gabel added 17 points for the Golden Flyers along with five rebounds and a game high eight assists. Jonathan Park also finished with double figures in points as he contributed 10 as well as a team high six rebounds.
 
 
UC will have a date on the road against Russell Sage College next, a team that is also trending towards the top of the E8. The game is set for Thursday at 6 p.m.