Following the loss, the Golden Flyers finish the regular season with a 15-10 overall record and 7-7 in conference games. The Bombers improve to 17-8 overall and 10-4 in Empire 8 contests.

The Golden Flyers fall just shy of earning a bid into the Empire 8 conference tournament after Utica defeated the Soaring Eagles 88-84 in Elmira on Saturday to finish with an 8-6 conference record. Utica claims the fourth seed after dramatic wins on Friday and Saturday. The top four teams in the conference standings qualify for the tournament.

In Utica's game against Elmira, a personal foul and technical foul against Elmira midway through the second half provided Utica with four consecutive free throws and stretched their lead to six points. Elmira closed to one point, 85-84, with 13 seconds to play, but the Soaring Eagles committed a turnover on their ensuing possession to allow the Pioneers to escape with the victory. Utica defeated the Bombers 69-66 at Ithaca on Friday night following a baseline three-point basket with .2 seconds to play.

In the second half of the Golden Flyers contest against Ithaca, the Bombers extended their lead to 59-53 with 7:32 to play witha quick scoring run. Brad Ford made consecutive baskets in the paint to bring Nazareth to within two points.

The turning point came in the next 1:15. On Ithaca's next possession as the Bombers' Travis Warech connected on a contested three-point basket that stretched Ithaca's lead to five points. On Nazareth's ensuing possession, the Golden Flyers had two shot attempts blocked before the Bombers collected the rebound. After Nazareth fouled Sean Rossi, Rossi missed the front-end of the one and one free throws, but Frank Mitchell collected the offensive rebound to maintain the Bombers' possession. Moments later, Rossi converted two free throws to give Ithaca a 66-59 lead.

Following Rossi's initial miss, the Bombers finished 12 of 14 from the charity stripe in the final 1:37 to secure the victory. Stephens converted a three-point play following a drive to the basket with 56 seconds in regulation to cut the Golden Flyers' deficit to six points, 70-64, but Nazareth was unable to overcome Ithaca's proficiency at the free throw line.

Stephens had given Nazareth a 50-47 lead with 12:35 to play in regulation after converting a three-point play. The opening 10 minutes of the second half featured four lead changes and two ties before Ithaca's decisive 7-0 scoring run gave the Bombers the lead for good with about 10 minutes remaining.

The Golden Flyers finished shooting 44 percent (26-59) from the field for the game. Nazareth shot a torrid 60 percent (15-25) from the field, including 60 percent (6-10) from beyond the arc in the first half. Advantages in rebounds (17-12), free throws (7-3), and turnovers forced (4-1) in addition to consistent shooting (48 percent (16-33) allowed the Bombers to stay close in the opening period. Jordan Healey made a layup in final seconds of the half to give Ithaca a 41-39 lead at the break.

The first half had 14 lead changes and six ties as neither team was able to pull away. Nazareth's largest lead of the period was five points, 12-7. Ithaca had two four-point leads, 22-18 and 31-27, in the first half.

Ford's 24 points put him over 1,000 points in his career. Ford stands at 1,011 career points following Saturday's game. Ford tallied a career-high 406 points during the 2012-13 season. Stephens' 17 points gives him 1,423 career points, which places him sixth on Nazareth's all-time scoring list.

In addition to the points from Ford and Stephens, freshman Maurice Mills tallied 12 points while junior Jack Giles added nine points. Mills was also a force defensively for Nazareth as he tallied four blocked shots.

Ithaca had four players finish in double-digits in scoring led by Tom Sweeney with 19 points. Rossi entered the contest needing only 13 assists to become the all-time leader in assists in Division III. Rossi was credited with 12 assists to tie the mark with 917 career assists.