ROCHESTER, N.Y. (January 2, 2009) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team dropped its Empire 8 opener to defending conference champion Nazareth College, 98-75 on Friday night at Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester, N.Y. The Golden Flyers (2-6 overall, 1-0 Empire 8) shot 52.8 percent from the field for the game and a remarkable 68.8 percent from long range. Stevens was led by the 19 points from senior tri-captain Virgil Gray and the 10 points and eight rebounds from freshman forward Simon Smith. Nazareth senior Ryan McAdam (Fairport, N.Y.) scored his 1,000 career point in the win.

The Golden Flyers played a fantastic first half in which they shot 54.5 percent from the field and were 6-for-8 from deep. Junior guard Corey McAdam (Fairport, N.Y.) scored 10 points of 4-of-6 shooting and freshman guard Jordan Major (Rochester, N.Y.) hit three three-pointers and poured in 11 first-half points.

The opening eight-plus minutes saw a lot of back and forth as Nazareth held a slim, 21-20 lead with 11:40 to go. However, that lead would balloon to 14 after a 15-2 run over the game's next 6:25 to put the score at 36-22 with 5:15 to go in the first.

Stevens was able to get the deficit down to 11, but Nazareth scored five-straight points over the final 1:20 of the half to build its lead to 16 going into the break. Freshman guard Phil Scaffidi (Buffalo, N.Y.) sank a three with 20 seconds left to make the score 47-31.

The Ducks struggled in the opening half, shooting just 39.4 percent overall and 2-for-11 from behind the arc. Gray led the way for Stevens scoring 13 points.

Nazareth opened the second half the same way it finished the first, outscoring the Ducks 21-3 over the first 3:22 to build a 68-37 lead. Trailing 85-48 with 9:55 to go, Stevens was able to go on a solid 16-2 run to get the score to 87-64 with 5:24 remaining but could not get much closer over the final five-plus minutes of action.

Corey McAdam finished with a game-high 22 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds and his brother Ryan finished with 21 points. Senior forward Jeff DeHimer (Scotia, N.Y.) had a strong all-around game, netting 16 and grabbing 11 boards. Nazareth also assisted on 23 of its 38 baskets while only committing 10 turnovers.

Freshman Justin Sanchez had 12 points in the loss for Stevens who had eight assists and nine turnovers as a team.

The Ducks (7-3 overall, 0-1 Empire 8) will look to get back in the win column when they take on St. John Fisher College on Saturday at 4 p.m.