BOX SCORE

The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team dropped a 66-56 decision to East-Avenue rival Nazareth College on Tuesday night before a near-capacity crowd at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.

With the loss, Fisher falls to 9-7 overall and 4-3 in the Empire 8, while Nazareth improves to 11-4, 5-2.

Tonight's game was decided on the perimeter.  Fisher, who entered the game as the Empire 8's leader in 3-point field goals with 111 on the year, shot just 1-for-12 (8.3%) for the night, while the Golden Flyers shot 11-for-20 (55.0%) from beyond the arc.

Nazareth led 32-26 at the half after the Cardinals trailed by as many as 12 points.  The Golden Flyers shot 7-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half, including three made field goals as the shot clock expired.  Fisher shot just 32.1% from the floor, including 1-for-8 from 3-point range, but committed just one turnover in the opening period to stay in the hunt.

Nazareth took a 41-36 lead on a 3-pointer from Brad Ford with 14:55 before the Cardinals began to rally.  Fisher took its first lead of the game at 42-41 with just over 13 minutes left on a basket from Jason Norsen.  The layup was part of a 12-1 run by Fisher with Norsen scoring eight points during the spurt.

The Golden Flyers, however, would answer.  Trailing 48-42 with 10:33 remaining, Nazareth went on a 18-3 run to take a 60-51 lead with just over three minutes left, sparked by three 3-pointers.

Norsen led the Cardinals with 27 points, including 23 in the second half.  He also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots.  Chaz Lott finished with seven points and seven rebounds, while Justin Plata added eight points.

Fisher will return to action at 8 p.m. on Friday and will host Ithaca College.