With the win, Fisher (16-10) advances to Saturday’s title game at Ithaca and will play No. 3 Nazareth College at 3 p.m. The Golden Flyers advanced to Saturday’s title game with an 81-70 win over No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology.
Ithaca falls to 17-9 and will find out on Monday if it has received an NCAA Championship at-large bid or has been invited to play in the ECAC Upstate Championship.
Fisher hosted and won the Empire 8 Conference Championship in each of the tournament’s four previous years of existence. The Cardinals also won the Empire 8 title in the 2002-2003 season, giving the Cardinals five straight Empire 8 titles.
Fisher and Nazareth have played twice this year with the Golden Flyers winning each of the first two meetings.
With the game tied at 12 with 13:46 left in the first half, Fisher went on a 9-0 run, started by a 3-pointer from
Will Cornett, followed by six straight points from sophomore
Michael Wopperer.
Ithaca trimmed Fisher’s lead to 24-18, but the Cardinals went on another 9-0 run, capped by 3-pointers from
Matt Newman and
Chris Baltz.
The Cardinals, who led 43-29 at intermission, shot 17-of-33 (54.8%) from the floor in the first half, including 7-of-12 (58.3%) from 3-point range, while Bombers were 9-of-33 (27.3%) and 2-of-11 (18.2%), respectively.
The second half started much like how the first half ended, as the Cardinals opened the second stanza with a 13-4 run over the opening 5:20, shooting 6-for-9 from the floor, while the Bombers continued to struggle, going 1-for-8 from the field over the same span. The Cardinals kept a 20-point-plus lead until the closing moments.
Empire 8 All-Conference honorees
Justin Beigel and
Chris Baltz each finished with 18 points for the Cardinals, while guard
Matt Newman notched 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Center/forward
Isaiah Smalt grabbed a team-best nine rebounds and scored eight points in the win.
The marked the 150th career win for head coach
Rob Kornaker. Kornaker, now in his seventh season with the Cardinals, ranks as the all-time winningest coach in Division III basketball with a 150-46 overall record.
