Rochester, NY (1/12/2013) - Utica College junior Connor Maisch (Kingston, NY/John A. Coleman) scored a career-high 28 points, and sophomore point guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) chipped in with 12 points and seven assists, but it was not enough as the Nazareth College men's basketball team earned an 89-81 Empire 8 Conference victory over the visiting Pioneers on Saturday at Kidera Gymnasium.  UC's record moved to 5-10 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

Nazareth was led by Brad Ford's 27 point, ten rebound effort as the Golden Flyer advanced their record to 10-4 overall and 3-1 in E8 play.  Tyshun Stephens added 22 points for the home team.

Utica tied the score on six different occasions, including once at the end of the first half when the Pioneers used a 9-2 run in the final 2:50 of the half to knot the score at 37-37 at the intermission.  Maisch drilled a 3-pointer with two seconds left on the first half clock to tie the score, giving Utica the momentum headed into the locker room. 

The score was tied on three different occasions in the opening five minutes of the second half until the Golden Flyers went on a 12-0 run in just over three minutes to take a 12 point lead, 60-48, with 12:16 left in regulation.  Utica retaliated with an 11-0 run of its own to cut its deficit to three points, with 7:32 left in the game.

Naz managed to stretch its lead back to ten points with 3:08 remaining and the Golden Flyers never looked back as they earned the key conference win. 

Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) netted 11 points and added five assists for UC, while Maisch also posted eight rebounds for the Pioneers. Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) came off the bench and scored ten points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.  Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) and Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School) each added eight points for Utica.  Jeffers also snagged seven rebounds.

Scott Hayford and Maurice Mills combined for 24 points for the home team. Naz knocked down ten 3-pointers on the afternoon. 

Utica closes out its three game road trip on Tuesday when it travels to Potsdam State to take on the Bears at 7 p.m. The contest marks the final non-conference game of the season for the Pioneers before closing out the regular season with nine straight Empire 8 contests.