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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A poor shooting night spelled doom for Nazareth Tuesday in its men's basketball season opener against Roberts Wesleyan at the Blue Cross Arena. The Golden Flyers could not overcome a 17-points halftime deficit and lost to the Raiders, 71-55.

The loss spoiled the Nazareth head coaching debut for Kevin Broderick, who took over for Mike Daley. Roberts, meanwhile, improved to 4-2 with the victory. Sophomore Jason Corletta was Nazareth's leading scorer with 17 points. Senior Corey McAdam added 12 and freshman Tyshun Stephens scored 10.

The Golden Flyers were stone cold in shooting the ball from the outside most of the game as they made 20 of 66 shots (30.3 percent), including just 4 of 26 from three-point range. Roberts took advantage by building a 39-22 halftime lead as Alif Brand scored 14 of his 19 points in the first 20 minutes.

Nazareth used a 19-6 scoring burst to open the second half and closed the gap to 45-41 on a basket by Corletta with 11:47 left. Roberts, however, then scored 10 of the next 11 points to push the lead back to 13 points, 55-42, and the lead never left double digits thereafter. 

Brand and Rashaad Stokelin each scored 19 points for Roberts and Jordan Heath added 13. The Raiders shots 49 percent (24 for 49) for the game.

The Golden Flyers play again this weekend at the Coles Classic hosted by Buffalo State. Nazareth plays Marietta College Friday at 6 p.m. Consolation and championship games are Saturday at 5 and 7 p.m. respectively.