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ONEONTA, N.Y. -- Senior Jeff DeHimer sank two free throws with :03 left Sunday to lift visiting Nazareth to a 69-67 men's basketball victory over Hartwick in Empire 8 Conference action.

The victory was the third in a row for the Golden Flyers, who improved to 7-11 overall and 4-5 in conference play. Hartwick fell to 8-10 overall and 2-8 in the E8.

In a see-saw battle, Nazareth trailed by as many as eight points in the first half before rallying to lead by as many as nine in the second half. A late surge by the Hawks left the Golden Flyers trailing 65-61 with less than a minute to play, but two baskets by Corey McAdam and another by DeHimer tied the score at 67-67 with :19 left.

Hartwick's Jan Cocozziello, who finished with a game-high 29 points, missed two crucial free throws after being fouled by Nazareth's Phil Scaffidi with :16 let. DeHimer corralled the rebound off the second miss and fouled on his way to the basket with :03 left.

A 57-percent foul shooter coming into the game, DeHimer sank the two winning free throws, before a desperation three-pointer by Hartwick's Mark Blazek missed the mark.

DeHimer finished with 17 points on 7 for 12 shooting and a team-best eight rebounds. Ryan McAdam added 14 points, Corey McAdam had 11 and Jason Corletta scored 10.

Cocozziello's 29 points included 21 in the second half. Blazek had 18. Hartwick's Ramond Doyley was the leading rebounder with 14.

Blazek scored 12 points in the first half to lead Hartwick to a 30-24 advantage. The Hawks led by as many as eight points, 24-16, following a three-pointer by A.J. Beaulieu with 9:25 to go.

Nazareth opened the second half with a 29-14 scoring run, capped by Corey McAdam's three-pointer with 8:44 to play to give Nazareth its largest lead at 53-44. Hartwick then embarked on its own scoring run, a 21-8 scoring spree (triggered by 12 points from Cocozziello) to go up 65-61 with less than a minute left.

Corey McAdam scored with :50 left, then again four seconds later following a steal by Corletta to tie the score at 65-65. The teams exchanged two more field goals -- Cocozziello scored with :28 left for Hartwick and DeHimer for Nazareth with :19 to play -- to set the stage for DeHimer's last-second free throws.

The victory enables the Golden Flyers to stay within striking distance of the top four places in the Empire 8 Conference standings. With five conference losses, Nazareth is tied with Utica (5-5 E8) for fourth place. RIT (10-0), Ithaca (8-1) and St. John Fisher (6-3) occupy the top three spots.

Nazareth plays again at Elmira Tuesday at 8 p.m. (WHTK-AM 1280).