UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's basketball team fell short of a 15 point comeback, suffering a 54-53 loss to Nazareth College in the Empire 8 Conference Championship game. 
 
Through the opening 10 minutes of the game the Pioneers and Golden Flyers were even at 16 points each. However, Nazareth controlled the second portion of the first half as it out-scored Utica 18-7 to take an 11-point lead into halftime. The Pioneers were held to 28 percent shooting in the opening frame. 
 
The Golden Flyers lead grew to as many as 15 points with just under 17 minutes left in the game.  Utica then used a 10-0 run to come back within five before Nazareth climbed back out to an 11 point cushion with 6:30 left to play. The Pioneers defense held the Golden Flyers scoreless for the next five minutes while clutch buckets by Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson) and Chris Green (White Plains, NY/Alexander Hamilton) brought the team back within one point at 52-51 with 2:40 to play, leading to a Nazareth timeout. 
 
One minute later, Murphy used a nice drop step to open himself up for a layup off the glass, giving the Pioneers their first lead since the first half. On the ensuing possession following a timeout, Nazareth's Kevin Underwood hit a running layup that gave the Golden Flyers the lead at 54-53. 
 
Utica turned to fouls, sending Jonathan Park of Nazareth to the line for a one-and-one. Park missed the front end which allowed Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) to grab the rebound before taking the ball to the frontcourt to call a timeout with 12 seconds left. Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) was given the ball with three seconds left as the All-Empire 8 first team selection missed the contested layup while the Golden Flyers ran out the final ticks to secure the championship. 
 
Hopkins led the team with 16 points and had a share of the team lead with seven rebounds. Green netted 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor. Murphy ended the afternoon with eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks while Morreale totaled nine points and six boards. Morreale was also the recipient of the Empire 8 Torchbearer Award with a 4.0 GPA. 
 
The Pioneers will now hope to be one of 20 teams selected for an at-large bid in the upcoming NCAA Division III Tournament. The selection show will be at 12:30 p.m. on Monday and will be streamed live on NCAA.com.