ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men's basketball team (0-1) nearly overcame a sizable deficit against Nazareth College (1-0) in the first round of the Mike Daley Memorial Tournament before falling short, 82-73.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Golden Flyers opened the contest on a 21-13 run.
• Potsdam trailed by as many as 14 in the first half and was down 44-32 at the break.
• A 17-4 run by the Bears, capped by a jumper from sophomore guard Nicholas Cortez (Harlem, N.Y./La Salle Academy), gave Potsdam its first lead at 11:49 of the second half.
• Potsdam stayed just in front of Nazareth until the 3:00 mark as a 3-pointer from Tyler Putney gave the hosts the lead for good.
• A layup from senior guard Walter deFreitas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavarian) closed the gap to 76-73, but Nazareth put the game away with free throws.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Golden Flyers shot 46.2-percent from the floor and Potsdam hit 41.0-percent of its shots.
• Nazareth outrebounded the Bears 44-33.
• deFreitas led all scorers with 24 points, to go with seven rebounds and two blocks.
• Sophomore guard Mohammad Sylla (Bronx, N.Y./Darrow) had 19 points and four boards.
• Cortez also reached double-digits with 13 points. He also had five assists and four rebounds.
• Putney had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead Nazareth.

 
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Bears will face SUNY Cortland in tomorrow's 1 p.m. consolation matchup.