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ITHACA, N.Y. -- RIT outscored Nazareth 14-9 in overtime Sunday to defeat the Golden Flyers, 76-71, in the championship game of the Empire 8 Conference Tournament for men's basketball played at Ithaca's Ben Light Gymnasium. The victory earned the Tigers an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Nazareth, an upset winner over top-seeded Ithaca Saturday, finished its season with a 13-14 overall record. RIT is 19-8 overall and will play again this week in the NCAA Tournament.
In the fourth meeting between the two teams this season, Nazareth trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to force the game to overtime. The score was tied 69-69 in the extra period when RIT's Nate Korinchak hit one of two free throws to give the Tigers the lead for good, 70-69, with 1:07 left.
Tournament MVP Mark Carson added two free throws with :29 left. Then after a basket by Nazareth's
Phil Scaffidi, RIT sealed the win with two free throws each from Shawn Roe and Marcus Lowe. Nazareth had a chance to tie following the two free throws by Roe, but a off-balance three-point attempt by
Ryan McAdam was off the mark and Lowe gathered in the rebound.
Senior
Jeff DeHimer had his second straight strong game for Nazareth in the tournament as he made all nine of his field goal attempts for the second day in a row and finished with a team-high 21 points. Ryan McAdam added 13 points and
Corey McAdam scored 15 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Freshman
Jason Corletta contributed 12 points.
After building its halftime lead, RIT led for most of the second half before the Golden Flyers finally caught up. Corletta hit a pair of free throws and Ryan McAdam nailed a three-pointer to cut RIT's lead to 60-59 with 2:46 left. Carson scored for RIT with 1:52 left and DeHimer answered by making one of two free throws for Nazareth to make it 62-60 RIT with 1:44 to go.
Nazareth finally tied the score 62-62 with :39 left on a basket by
Dominique Kendrick, who converted a steal from Corey McAdam. Kendrick later had a chance to win the game for the Golden Flyers at the end of regulation, but he missed a pair of free throws with 1.1 seconds left to force overtime.
Nazareth shot 47.1 percent from the field (24 for 51), including 8 for 20 from three-point range. RIT was 27 for 52 (51.9 percent) and 6 for 14 from beyond the arc. RIT had a 39-20 rebounding advantage with Carson grabbing 13 to go with his game-high 27 points.
Korinchak finished with 15 points, Scott Young had 12 and Lowe 10 for the Tigers. DeHimer's 9-for-9 effort in both weekend games equaled a school record held by Joe Convertino since 1986.