ROCHESTER, N.Y. (January 5, 2013) – Senior guard Russ Thompson (West Orange, N.J.) scored 32 points including 25 in the second half to propel the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 76-70 Empire 8 win at Nazareth College Saturday afternoon in Rochester, N.Y.
With the win, the Ducks improve to 8-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference, while the Golden Flyers drop to 1-1 in the Empire 8 and 8-4 overall in defeat.
Stevens trailed by as many as 13 in the second half and by 10 points with 5:47 to play but rallied back to snap a three-game skid against the Golden Flyers with all three losses coming in 2011-12.
Down 64-54, sophomore forward Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) found Thompson for a three-pointer, and after a stop, Thompson fed senior guard Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.Y.) underneath for a bucket. Another Thompson triple trimmed the lead to two (64-62), but Naz answered with three in a row to push the margin back to five (67-62) with 3:04 left.
The two teams traded buckets before a Thompson triple – his sixth of the day – with 1:43 remaining cut the lead back to two at the 1:43 mark. Gan rebounded a missed triple from the Golden Flyers and then assisted a Thompson layup with a converted free throw to give the Ducks a 70-69 lead with 1:06 on the clock.
Sophomore forward Patrick Sabatino (Westfield, N.J.) corralled a missed jumper from junior forward Brad Ford (Victor, N.Y.) on the next Nazareth possession and Thompson converted a pair at the stripe to put Stevens up three with 28 seconds to go. The Ducks forced a Golden Flyer miss on their next chance, Sabatino pulled down his seventh rebound and then went to the line to sink both free throws and seal the game with 22 seconds left.
Earlier in the second half trailing 46-34, Stevens used a 9-0 spurt keyed by six points – all free throws – from Sabatino to get within three, and moments later took brief one-point lead (52-51) following a Thompson shot from long range and a Sabatino layup. The hosts answered that run with a 13-2 spurt to regain control before the Ducks would rally for the six-point win.
Naz scored the game's first five points, led by as many as 11 points in the first half and held the edge for the first 30:54 of the action.
The Ducks ended the contest shooting 40.7 percent (24-for-59) from the field and 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from deep. Stevens was excellent at the line, converting on 21 of its 25 attempts (84 percent). The Ducks totaled 13 assists, 11 turnovers, eight blocks and six steals as a team. Naz shot 37.1 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from three and 84.2 percent (16-for-19) from the line. The Golden Flyers also held a slight 41-40 margin on the glass.
Thompson finished with 32 points on 10-of-16 shooting. He was 6-for-6 at the line and 6-for-10 from three-point land. Sabatino finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, with Gan turning in a very strong 10 point, 10 rebound, four assist and four block performance. Junior guard Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) had six points, seven boards, four assists and three steals.
Nazareth was led by Brad Ford who had a game-high 25 points and five rebounds. Mitch Ford (Victor, N.Y.) had 12 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman forward Maurice Mills (Utica, N.Y.) finished with nine points and 12 boards.
The Ducks will return to action with a non-conference tilt Tuesday night at Kean University in Union, N.J. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
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