BOX SCORE

The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team lost for the first time in Empire 8 Conference play this season with a close 48-46 battle with Ithaca College in Ithaca on Saturday afternoon. Fisher's loss drops the team to 8-5 on the season and 3-1 in the conference while the Bombers improved to 7-3, 3-0.

Fisher opened the second half by extending its four-point halftime lead to its largest lead of the contest, taking a nine-point advantage at 35-26 with 15:31 to play. Ithaca would not quit, however, putting together a 12-0 run over 4:35 to take a 38-35 lead over the Cardinals. The Bombers used three 3-pointers in the stretch to close the gap and force a lead change.

The Cardinals' 34th and 35th points came after made free throws by Chaz Lott at 15:31 of the second half. Over the next 9:30, Fisher was only able to cash in three points, a drought that would prove costly in the end.

Ithaca scored its final field goal on a layup with 5:25 remaining in the game, giving the Bombers a 45-39 advantage. Just 13 seconds later, Thad Wier hit one of his four 3-pointers on the day, pulling the Cardinals within three points at 45-42.

Two Ithaca free throws pushed the lead to five before layups by Lott and Jason Norsen cut the margin to just one at 47-46. The Bombers then added one more point from the charity stripe and a last effort for the Cardinals in the closing seconds of regulation was not to be.

Wier finished with a game-high 14 points along with five rebounds and two steals. Norsen missed a double-double by just a board, scoring 10 points and cleaning up nine shots off the glass. The senior also blocked three shots, a statistical category that Norsen currently leads the nation with 3.67 blocks per game as of 12/16/2012.

The two teams played pretty evenly according to the box score, with the only clear advantage coming beyond the arc. Ithaca shot 38.9% from 3-point range while Fisher was 0-for-9 without Wier's 4-for-7 performance.

In the first half, Fisher used a 14-0 run after trailing the Bombers 12-6 to take a 20-12 lead with 3:40 left in the period. The Cardinals held Ithaca to just six points over the final 10:33 of the opening stanza to head to the locker room with a 22-18 advantage.

Wier led the Cardinals in the first, scoring eight points while making two 3-pointers, collecting three boards and taking away two steals. All eight of Wier's points came at the start of the 14-0 run, as he hit a three followed by two free throws and capping it with another trey.

Matt Cooney then hit a layup, followed by a Lott lay-in before Justin Plata ended the run with a layup of his own.

Cooney added four points in the opening period on 2-for-2 shooting off the bench.  

Fisher will return to action at 8 p.m. on Friday when it travels to Oneonta to face Hartwick College in Empire 8 play.