| 1/22/2008 9:56:19 PM

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PITTSFORD, NY – Despite a career-high 14 points from Rick Whitwood (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville) (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville) and a career-best 16 rebounds from Mark Carson (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville), the RIT men's basketball team (9-8, 3-5 Empire 8) fell to Nazareth (12-4, 5-2 Empire 8) 86-79 in an Empire 8 contest at the Kidera Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

Carson added 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.  Senior forward Kenny Gethers (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half.

Nazareth trailed 56-51 midway through the second half before scoring the game's next eight points to go up 59-56.  The Golden Flyers never trailed after that.

The Tigers hurt themselves with 22 turnovers, including 14 in the second half.  The turnovers offset RIT shooting 68 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes. 

RIT allowed more than 50 second-half points for the second straight contest.  Nazareth scored 58 second-half points to RIT's 49.

The Golden Flyers shot 58 percent from the field in the second half and turned the ball over 13 times.

Joe Canori led five Golden Flyers in double-figures with 22 points.  Corey McAdam tallied 18 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and six steals.  Ryan McAdam had 13 points and 10 rebouonds.

The Tigers got off to a great start, opening the game on an 18-9 run over the first 10 minutes.  Nazareth clawed back and went on a 19-6 run of their own to take a 28-24 lead with 2:21 left in the half.  RIT battled back with the final six points of the half, including a steal and lay-up by Whitwood, as the first half buzzer sounded, as the Tigers went into halftime with a 30-28 lead.

Both teams struggled from the field in the opening half.  RIT shot just 34.4 percent from the field, while Nazareth shot 32.3 percent from the field.

Whitwood tied his season high of 11 points in the first half, on 5-of-6 shooting.  Carson pulled down 11 first half caroms for the Tigers. 

RIT leads the all-time series between the two teams 31-23.

This was the third meeting between the two teams this season.  The Golden Flyers defeated RIT 95-82 in overtime at Clark Gym on Dec. 4 and took an 88-82 victory from the Tigers in first round action of the J.P. Morgan Chase Scholarship Tournament on Jan. 9.  Both games were tied in the final minute of regulation.

Before this season, RIT had won 12 straight games against the Golden Flyers dating back to the 2002-03 season.

The Tigers return to action on Tuesday, January 29 at Ithaca College starting at 8 p.m.