Score: Nazareth College 85, Elmira College 47
Records: Nazareth (7-5, 3-0 E8), Elmira (2-10, 0-3 E8)
Location: Speidel Gymnasium – Elmira, NY

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's basketball team was handed an 85-47 loss at the hands of the Nazareth College Golden Flyers in Empire 8 Conference action Saturday at Speidel Gymnasium.

The Soaring Eagles trailed the Golden Flyers throughout the entire 40-minute contest, as the visitors scored the first six points to take the early lead. Four straight points from Matt Davis '16 brought EC within two at 8-6, but from there, Naz went on a 9-1 run to extend the advantage to nine points at 17-8.

Justin Porrett '19 drained a trey and Gino Leonardi '16 sunk a layup on EC's ensuing possessions to cut the deficit to four points at 17-13 at the 14:04 mark in the first half, but the Golden Flyers once again responded with a run of their own to take a 22-13 lead in less than a minute.

Hayden Harkins '18 scored a triple at 11:18 to make it a 24-18 game, but seven straight points from Nazareth gave the Golden Flyers a double-digit lead for good. Nazareth led 43-27 at the intermission.

Elmira opened the second half with six of the first nine points, the latter pair coming from Porrett to make it 46-33. Nazareth used another seven-point run to take push the lead to 20 points, and the Golden Flyers didn't look back from there en route to the victory.

Turning Point
Coming out of the locker room at half, it looked like the Soaring Eagles would be able to chip away at the Nazareth lead by scoring four straight points on John Mullane '16 and Leonardi layups. Naz's Josh Gillard halted the run with a trey before Porrett's basket brought EC within 13 points at 46-33. The Golden Flyers, however, put any thoughts of an Elmira comeback to rest with a seven-point spurt to give them their first 20-point lead of the night.

Inside the Box

• Nazareth outshot Elmira by over 20 percent from the field, holding a 58.8-to-38.5 advantage in field-goal percentage.
• EC finished a mere 2-for-17 from three-point range and missed all eight treys in the second half.
• The Purple and Gold were out-rebounded 37-to-24.
• Leonardi paced Elmira with 10 points off of 5-for-12 shooting.
• Mullane scored nine points and hauled in a team-high six rebounds.
• Six Golden Flyers scored double-digit points, led by Mitch Ford with 17.
• Tyler Stenglein recorded a double-double for Naz with 13 points and 10 assists.

News and Notes

• Elmira falls to 0-3 inside Empire 8 play.
• Nazareth extended its win streak to 21 consecutive games in the all-time series vs. EC.
• EC's 47 points, two made three-pointers and 11.8 three-point field-goal percentage are season lows for each category.
• Leonardi's 10 points mark his eighth game of his senior season with double-digit points.
• Davis' six points are the second-highest single-game total of his career.

Up Next
The Soaring Eagles hit the road for the first of four straight games away from Speidel Gymnasium, as EC takes on Ithaca College at the Ben Light Gymnasium on Tuesday, January 12th at 6:00 p.m.