Utica, NY (1/22/2013) - The Utica College men's basketball team dominated the first half of play, and fended off a powerful second half comeback, on its way to a key 74-69 Empire 8 Conference victory over visiting Nazareth College on Tuesday night at the Clark Athletic Center Gymnasium.  The Pioneers connected on 22-of-26 free throws on the afternoon, while Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) led the way with 19 points and eight rebounds.  Sophomore guard Aaron Nevins (Buffalo, NY/Canisius) and junior forward Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) each added 16 points as the Pioneers won their second straight conference contest and improved to 7-11 overall and 4-4 in the E8. 

Tyshun Stephens netted 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Nazareth, while freshman Mitch Ford chipped in with 25 points and seven rebounds.  The rest of the Golden Flyer contingent combined for 18 points as they dropped their third straight game and moved to 11-7 overall and 5-4 in the E8. 

Utica opened the game on a 28-8 run in the first 10:20 of the contest to jump out to a 20 point advantage with 9:40 to go in the first half of play.  The opening spurt included six points from senior forward Jeff Ward (Ossining, NY/Ossining High School), highlighted by his thundering one handed dunk 7:56 into the contest.  Ward finished the day with seven points and four rebounds.  He currently ranks third all-time in program-history with 566 career rebounds. 

Naz closed out the final 9:07 of the first half on a 16-9 run to cut UC's lead to 37-24 at the half.  The Golden Flyer run was lead by 11 points from Mitch Ford. 

Nazareth would not go down without a fight as it opened the second half on a 24-6 run in the first 10:16 to take a 48-43 lead with 9:44 to go in the contest.  The Pioneers responded right back with a 13-1 run in just over three minutes, including seven points from Nevins, to give UC a 56-49 lead with 6:19 to go. 

The Golden Flyers answered with a 6-2 run in a span of 2:08 to make it a three point game, 58-55, with 2:54 left.  UC's Matt Baldwin (Gloversville, NY/Gloversville) then scored eight straight points, in just 43 seconds, to give UC an 11 point lead with 1:50 to go.  Baldwin's push essentially sealed the victory.  Baldwin hit two 3-pointers on the afternoon and currently ranks fifth all-time in school-history with 112 career triples. 

A 14-6 run in the next 1:06 by Naz put a scare in the Pioneers, but Maisch netted two free throws with four seconds left to secure the key conference victory. Maisch finished the night with nine points and his 56 3-pointers this season ranks seventh on the College's all-time single season list.

Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) scored seven points off the bench for UC and Jeffers also hauled in 11 rebounds. 

Utica will now hit the road for three straight conference games, beginning with St. John Fisher College on Friday night at 8 p.m.