Rochester, N.Y. – The Elmira College Soaring Eagles men's basketball team traveled to Rochester, NY for an Empire 8 conference matchup with the Golden Flyers of Nazareth University on Friday night. Elmira fought hard but fell short in the end, dropping a close battle to Nazareth, 84-78.
Play-By-Play
The Golden Flyers opened the scoring with a layup on the first possession of the game. The Soaring Eagles answered that by going on a 9-0 run that included two three-pointers by
JJ Babcock and another by
Alec Mercer. Nazareth was able to pull back ahead by going on a 21-5 run that put them up by nine. A few minutes later
Kelton Brown scored eight consecutive points for the Soaring Eagles to tie up the score at 34. Nazareth countered with a 10-1 run to once again give them the advantage.
Kelton Brown dropped another six consecutive points for Elmira right before the half, including a layup right before the buzzer sounded, to pull the Soaring Eagles within three at the half, 44-41.
To open the second half, Mercer hit a three-pointer on the first possession to even up the score.
Tyler Cardello scored seven consecutive points for the Soaring Eagles, but the Golden Flyers answered every time, holding a slim advantage in the early part of the second half. Brown hit a jump shot to cap off an 8-0 run for Elmira seeing them recapture the lead, 65-64. The game became a back-and-forth battle over the next several minutes, the lead being traded left and right. Elmira regained the advantage with four minutes to play on a three-pointer by
Emmanuel Karkari-Mensah. Nazareth was able to close out the game by going on a 9-2 run. Elmira fought hard but came up short in the end, 84-78.
Leaders
The Soaring Eagles were led by Brown who scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Cardello had a double-double with 18 points and led the team with 14 rebounds. Mercer added 14 points for Elmira.
Up Next
The Soaring Eagles will travel to St. John Fisher University for a conference matchup with the Cardinals on Saturday, January 17
th. Tip-off is set for 4:00 PM.