PITTSFORD, N.Y., March 9, 2015 – St. John Fisher College’s Optimystik Kinard (Christ the King/South Ozone Park) of the men’s basketball team has been named as the College’s Male Athlete of the Week for the week ending March 8, 2015.
Kinard recorded a season-high 22 points in back-to-back games to help Fisher advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Championship. The Cardinals improve to 25-4 on the year, marking the third-highest win-total in a single season in the program’s 52-year history.
Over the two-game span, the senior shot 15-of-22 (68.2%) from the floor, including 9-of-10 (90%) from beyond the arc. He also averaged 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
In Friday’s 76-70 win over Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the First Round of the NCAA Championship, Kinard shot a perfect 6-of-6 from 3-point range against the Engineers, who entered the game with the nation’s best 3-point percentage defense. The next day, Kinard shot 7-of-12 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, in Fisher’s 87-70 win over Amherst College.
Fisher faces host Randolph-Macon College, the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, at 8 p.m. Friday. It will be the Cardinal’s fourth appearance in the Sweet 16 in the last 11 years.
