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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Junior Phil Scaffidi scored a career-high 26 points Saturday to lift host Nazareth to an 83-80 men's basketball victory over Utica in the Golden Flyers' season finale.

Nazareth finishes the season at 15-10 overall and evened its Empire 8 record at 8-8. Utica dropped to 13-11 overall and 7-9 in conference games.

Scaffidi made 9 of 13 shots from the field, including two three-pointers, and had eight rebounds and three steals. He was assisted by freshman Brad Ford, who had 18 points and eight rebounds, and junior Jason Corletta, who added 14 points.

Ford scored 14 of his points in the first half and Scaffidi added 12 as Nazareth raced to a 40-27 advantage. Nazareth's hawking defense caused 11 first-half turnovers as the Golden Flyers made seven steals.

Nazareth led by as many as 15 points in the second half before the Pioneers staged a rally. With Nazareth up 70-62 following a pair of free throws by Ford with 4:40 to go, Utica scored the 11 straight points to go up 73-70. A three-pointer by Will Abrams gave Utica its first lead at 71-70 since early in the game. Marion Lewis added two free throws on the Pioneers' next possession to make it 73-70.

Nazareth regained the lead after a basket by Corletta and two free throws from Scaffidi only to have Utica go back up one, 74-73, on a bucket by Lewis.

Two free throws by Nazareth's Dan Waldbillig with :55 left enabled the Golden Flyers to retake the lead for good. Another free throw by Scaffidi and two by Corletta extended the lead to four, 79-75, with :24 left.

After Utica scored again, Corletta missed two free throws, but got his own rebound on the second miss and was fouled again. This time he buried the two shots to put Nazareth back up four, 81-77. Abrams hit another three-pointer for Utica with :03 left before Tyshun Stephens knocked down two free throws to provide the final difference.

Corletta's two missed free throws cost him a school record as he finished the season with a .890 percentage from the free-throw line (81 for 91), a couple of percentage points off the single-season Nazareth record of .901 (91 for 101) set by Todd Calman in 1987.