Men's Basketball | 12/3/2014 7:46:00 PM

Box Score Box | Updated stats | Tournament site
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Second-seeded Geneseo outscored Nazareth 49-40 in the second half Wednesday to rally past the seventh-seeded Golden Flyers for a 74-67 men's basketball victory in a first-round game of the Wendy's College Classic at St. John Fisher's Varsity Gymnasium.

Nazareth (1-2 overall) plays again Friday in a consolation game at the University of Rochester at 6 p.m. against RIT. Geneseo (2-2 overall) will play in the tournament semifinals Friday against St. John Fisher at RIT at 8 p.m.

Junior forward Maurice Mills scored a team-high 22 points for Nazareth despite sitting out for 15 minutes of the first half with three personal fouls. Junior Mitch Ford added 12 points and junior Nick Nadeau added nine points on three three-pointers. Geneseo's Gordon Lyons led all scorers and rebounders with 23 points and 15 boards. Andy Drescher added 19.

Mills' dunk with 6:55 left in the half gave Nazareth its largest lead of the first 20 minutes at 23-17. Thirty seconds later he was back on the bench after picking up his third foul and Geneseo used an 8-2 scoring run to tie the score at 25-25. Nazareth's Tomer Nesher solved Geneseo's zone defense to scored with :10 left in the half to give the Golden Flyers a 27-25 lead at the break.

Two baskets by Mills opened the second half as Nazareth pushed its lead back to six, 31-25. Geneseo then used a 32-14 scoring run, punctuated by a pair of free throws by Lyons, to take its largest lead at 57-45 with 6:11 to play. Nazareth answered with seven straight points, including a three-pointer by Nick Nadeau with 4:02 left, to close within 57-52. That was as close as the Golden Flyers would get as Drescher followed with a three-point play on the Knights' next possession to push the advantage back to eight points at 60-52.

Nazareth made 24 of 60 shots from the field, including 8 of 19 from three-point range. Geneseo went 22 for 46 with seven threes. The Knights had a 38-27 rebounding advantage. Wednesday's defeat also ensures that Nazareth will play in a consolation game Saturday afternoon at Geneseo for either fifth or seventh place.