Box Score

The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team improved to 13-8 overall and more importantly, 7-4 in the Empire 8 Conference with a 59-51 win at Elmira on Friday night. Fisher never trailed in the game and withstood several attempts for a comeback by the Soaring Eagles late in the second half.

Justin Plata opened the game with back-to-back 3-pointers, just his 13th and 14th treys of the season, to pace the Cardinals. The senior finished the first half with a game-high 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field. Jason Norsen worked the post in the stanza, scoring 10 points and denying Elmira with two blocks.

Fisher went to the locker room with its biggest lead of the first half, as the Cardinals went up 11 at 33-22 after Thad Wier had a monster swat that led to an easy layup for Norsen.

In the period, Fisher shot 52.2% (12-for-23) from the field while holding Elmira under 35% (8-for-24).

The Cardinals would go up by 14, their largest lead of the game, off a 3-pointer from Optimystik Kinard early in the second half. Fisher was able to handle several surges by the Soaring Eagles, keeping the lead above seven for a good portion of the period.

Elmira saved its largest run at the lead late, cutting the advantage all the way down to three points in favor of Fisher, but the Cardinals showed poise. Plata made two free throws to push the lead back to five with just over a minute to play. Matt Cooney then went to the line, made the first and after missing his second attempte, corralled his own rebound, allowing Wier to be fouled with under a minute to go.

Plata led the team with 17 points while Chaz Lott scored 15, including multiple traditional 3-point plays. Norsen finished with 12 points on 60% shooting while grabbing a game-high boards.

Fisher will return to action at 8 p.m. on Tuesday when it travels to face Houghton College.