St. John Fisher College men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season,
losing 90-83 to visiting Hobart College on Tuesday at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.
With the loss, Fisher falls to 2-1, while Hobart improves to 3-2.
Despite shooting 56.5% from the floor in the first half, Fisher went into halftime trailing by four, 43-39. Fisher led for most of the opening period, but Hobart went on a 9-0 run over the final 3:26 of the first half to take the lead into intermission. Matt Pebole scored 20 of his team-high 35 points in the first half to pace the Statesmen.
Hobart never trailed in the second half. The Cardinals cut Hobart's lead down to six points at 70-64 with 6:47 left on a basket from
Jason Norsen, who finished with a career-high nine points, but the Statesmen responded with an 11-2 spurt, with freshman Stefan Thompson scoring nine of his 18 points during the critical run, putting his team up by 15.
The Cardinals pulled to within six in the final minute, but never got any closer.
Jordan Koch led Fisher with 17 points, while
Michael Wopperer added 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Matt Newman (15 points) and
Ozell Franklin (11) also scored in double figures. Junior
Will Cornett dished out a career-best nine assists and didn't commit a turnover. He also tallied eight points, six boards and three steals.
Hobart finished the game with a 40-34 advantage on the glass and doubled up Fisher (16-8) in offensive rebounds.
Fisher will return to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday and will host Rochester Institute of Technology in the Empire 8 Conference season opener for both teams.
