PITTSFORD, N.Y. – SUNY Geneseo senior forward Gordon Lyons scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for his fourth-straight double-double to open the season while leading the Knights to a 74-67 victory over Nazareth in the opening round of the 49th-Annual Wendy's College Classic at St. John Fisher College. 

Senior guard Andy Drescher added 19 points, while first-year guards Kevin Crockett and Charlie Zaepfel each added 11 points in the Knights' (2-2) victory. 

"I thought we struggled a bit against Nazareth's pressure in the first half and were a bit timid atacking them," said head coach Steve Minton. "They did a good job of taking things away from Gordon and we needed to find someone else to step up. In the second half, we were much more aggressive offensively and were able to get out in transition as well. We had some guys hit some big threes which opened things up inside a bit."

A back-and-forth first half saw Nazareth take a 27-25 lead into intermission. A three-pointer by Crockett staked the Knights to a 16-15 lead at 11:14, but a 8-1 Nazareth run put Geneseo down, 23-17, at 6:52. Crockett hit 3-of-4 shots, including all three of his attempts from long range to lead the Knights with 11 points, while Lyons had seven boards heading into the locker room. 

Geneseo opened the second half on a 20-9 to take control with a 45-36 lead at 13:02. The Golden Flyers made it a seven-point game, 49-42, with 10:28 remaining, but a lay-up and two free throws by Lyons gave Geneseo its largest lead, 57-45, at 6:34.

Nazareth responded with a 7-0 run to pull within five, 57-52, at 4:06, but three-point play by Lyons capped a 6-1 Knights run to build the lead back to double-digits, 63-53, with 2:10 left in regulation en route to the win.

Tournament second-seeded Geneseo will take on third-seeded St. John Fisher on Friday (Dec.5) at 8:00 p.m. in the semifinals, hosted by RIT. The Cardinals advanced with a 70-45 victory over No. 6 RIT.