Nazareth advances to Wendy's final

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Nazareth erased a six-point halftime deficit Friday at Roberts Wesleyan as the Golden Flyers rallied past Brockport to take a 57-47 men's basketball victory in the semifinals of the Wendy's College Classic.

The Golden Flyers improved to 4-1 overall and will play University of Rochester Saturday at 8 p.m. in the championship game at Roberts. UR defeated Hobart 80-77 in the other semifinal. Brockport dropped to 1-4 overall and will play Hobart in Saturday's consolation game at 3 p.m.

Nazareth raced to an early lead as a jumper by Jason Corletta gave the Golden Flyers a 23-13 lead with 7:43 left in the first half. Brockport, however, rallied to score the next 18 points to take a 31-23 lead with 2:28 to play in the half.

A basket by Dan Waldbillig ended the drought and freshman Brad Ford put back an offensive rebound as time expired to make the score 33-27 at the break.

Nazareth chipped away in the second half, holding the Golden Eagles to just 14 points as they made just 5 of 26 shots from the field, including 0 for 6 from three-point range.

Nazareth took a 38-36 lead on a pair of free throws by Ford, but Brockport answered with a tip-in basket by Kyheen Green to tie the score at 38-38. Nazareth took the lead for good on its next possession as Phil Scaffidi hit a three-pointer from the right wing.

Nazareth's lead continued to grow and reached 12, 50-38, on a basket by Greg Lothridge with 7:05 to go.

Nazareth's scoring was well balanced with Scaffidi's 13 points leading the way. Waldbillig added 11 points with eight rebounds and Ford had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Saturday's final will be a rematch of an earlier meeting in which UR handed Nazareth its only loss, 79-74, on Nov. 23. Nazareth will be making its 10th title game appearance and will be seeking its sixth championship and first since 2002.