PITTSFORD, NY – The Alfred University men's basketball team came out on the short end of a high scoring affair between two unbeaten teams in the Empire 8.  AU dropped the thriller by a score of 92-94 to Nazareth College. With the loss, the Saxons fall to 10-3 on the season and 3-1 in the Empire 8.
 
With the game tied at 83 and just over two minutes to play in regulation, a Saxon turnover gave the ball back to the Golden Flyers with an opportunity to take the lead. 
 
Tight defense from AU forced the Nazareth offense out of the paint, but it wasn't enough to keep them from breaking the tie thanks to a tough step back three point shot from the Golden Flyer's Jake Burgio, making it 86-83 in favor of Nazareth. 
 
Dom LeMorta (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) wasted no time in returning fire, as he took the ball quickly up the court and converted a contested jumper to pull the Saxons to within one. 
 
Seconds later the Golden Flyers were back at their own end, scoring once again to retake the three-point lead.  A missed bucket for Alfred on the next possession forced them to begin to foul Nazareth with 23 seconds to play. 
 
Unfortunately for the Saxons the Nazareth foul shooters kept their nerves in tact down the stretch and went 6-6 from the stripe.  AU continued to answer with scores from Sam Dagon (Hornell, NY/Hornell) but eventually ran out of time and dropped its first Empire 8 game of the season. 
 
The entire game was tight and up-tempo with eight lead changes in total. Neither team went ahead by more than six points at any time. 
 
Sage Brown (Cortland, NY/Cortland) recorded a season high 25 points, shooting an efficient 11-14 from the field.  He also picked up three steals on the defensive end. Brewster Marshall (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) posted a second straight big scoring game with his season high of 23 points. LeMorta scored 21 and grabbed five boards while Scotty Stopera (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) dished out a team high five assists. 
 
As a team the Saxons dominated in the paint with 54 points to Nazareth's 32. AU also converted 28 points off of 18 Nazareth turnovers while the Golden Flyers had just 9 points off of eight Saxon turnovers. 
 
"Really proud of our effort tonight. It was a great early season test and I thought we came out with a lot of positives to continue to build on," Head Coach Russell Phillips said. "We need to have a short memory and get ready for Sage on Friday." 
 
Alfred will travel to The Sage Colleges for a Friday night matchup with the Gators at 7:30PM.