The St. John Fisher College men’s basketball team lost to SUNY Brockport 97-86 on Tuesday night at Fisher’s Manning & Napier Varsity Gym in the season-opener for the Cardinals.

The defeat marks just the third time the Cardinals have lost at home in their last 55 games and marks the program’s first home-loss in the first semester (November and December) since 2000.

Fisher led by four points early in the second half but was unable to keep up with the hot-shooting Golden Eagles (3-0), who shot a blazing 14-for-30 (46.7%) from 3-point range.

Senior center Dan McSweeney (Marcellus/Marcellus) led the way for Fisher with a career-high 24 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field, while also grabbing seven rebounds and blocking two shots.

Junior forward Justin Beigel (Colerain/Cincinnati, OH) tallied 14 points and five rebounds, while senior Dan Mueller (Waterloo/Waterloo) added 11 points and five assists.

Freshman Chris Baltz (Vestal/Vestal) finished his first career collegiate contest with nine points and three rebounds, while senior forward Adrian Fenyn (Newark/Newark) tallied eight points in his season debut. 

Junior Isaiah Smalt (Campbell-Savona/Savona) also picked up 10 rebounds and scored six points for the Cardinals, while high school teammate Matt Newman (Campbell-Savona/Campbell) added five assists in his first game at the collegiate level.

Bobby Kiernan (Carle Place/Setauket) finished with six points and five assists, while freshman Matt Haley (Desert Mountain/Scottsdale, AZ) chipped in with four points.

Fisher (0-1) returns to action at 7 p.m. on Sunday at D’Youville College.

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