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ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Senior Jason Corletta scored 25 points Saturday to lift Nazareth to its seventh men's basketball victory in its last eight games with a 90-78 win over upset-minded Elmira.

Leading by 14 at halftime and by as many as 17 points in the first half, Nazareth held off a late charge by the winless Soaring Eagles to improve to 14-6 overall and 7-2 in Empire 8 Conference play. Elmira dropped to 0-19, including 0-9 in conference games. The victory leaves Nazareth in a three-way tie for first place in the conference as Hartwick and Stevens recorded road wins at Ithaca and Utica respectively to improve to 7-2 in the E8 standings.

Against Elmira, Corletta matched his career high with 25 points on 9 for 16 shooting with five three-pointers. He also went 2-for-3 from the free throw line and had three steals. He had 13 of his points in the first half with three three-pointers as the Golden Flyers led 35-18 with 6:09 left before settling for a seemingly safe 46-32 advantage at the break.

Elmira used a frantic second-half comeback, outscoring Nazareth 17-5 in the first four minutes to draw within two, 51-49. Corletta answered the scoring run with a three-pointer to push the lead back to five, 54-49, but Elmira stayed close the rest of the way.

Elmira was still within three points, 76-73, after a basket by Neil Randolph with 4:16 left, but Phil Scaffidi made a free throw and Corletta and sophomore Scott Hayford followed with three-pointers to push the lead to 10, 85-75, with 1:23 to play. Scaffidi made two more free throws and junior Tyshun Stephens made three more in the closing seconds to seal the hard-fought win.

Corletta was one of five Nazareth players who scored in double figures. Stephens had 18, Scaffidi 14 and Jamell Johnson and Brad Ford scored 10 points each.

Both teams shot well from the field as Nazareth made 29 of 53 shots (54.7 percent), including 11 of 19 from three-point range. Elmira shot 31 for 52 (59.6 percent) and 7 for 19 from three-point range.

Nazareth now plays its next four conference games at home, starting with Friday's game against Ithaca at 8 p.m. Nazareth also host Utica Saturday at 4.