MARIETTA, Ohio – Senior Tyler English and sophomore Sammy Robinson combined to score 40 points as the nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's basketball team shook off a slow start to defeat Birmingham Southern, 94-75, on Friday afternoon in the inaugural Great Lakes Invitational.  The win, which marked the first collegiate victory for head coach Michael Grosodonia II, leveled Fisher's record at 1-1.  The Panthers fell to 1-1 overall following the loss.

Four different players reach double figures in scoring led by Robinson who notched a career-high 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor.  Robinson also added three steals on the defensive end and pulled down two rebounds.  English finished with 17 points while Ryan Henderson added 12 points – nine of which came in the second half - to go along with five boards.  James Leone had 11 points and five assists in the win while Jake Haight contributed nine points and a team-leading seven rebounds.  Mark Scanlon was credited with eight points and Daniel Morales added five points and five rebounds.  

After managing just 32 points in the opening half, the Cardinals found themselves in a 10-point hole at intermission.  The break in action seemed to ignite a spark in the team, however, as the Cardinals, who are ranked 19th in the latest D3hoops.com national poll, started the second half with an 20-1 run fueled by two dunks from Henderson and eight points from Robinson to turn a double-digit deficit into a nine-point lead, 52-43.

With just over 13 minutes left to play in the game, the Panthers would cut Fisher's lead to three, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Henderson and Leone pushed the advantage back to nine points, 60-51.

Birmingham Southern continued to hang around as the half wore on until the Cardinals put together a modest 7-2 run bookended by layups from Haight and English to keep the momentum in Fisher's favor.  From there, Fisher amped up the pace of play and outscored the Panthers 15-4 including eight unanswered over the game's final 4:44 to earn the come-from-behind non-conference win.

 As a team, Fisher was 37-for-69 (.536) from the floor and drilled seven 3-pointers in all.  The Cardinals won the battle on the glass and out-rebounded Birmingham-Southern, 39-32.  On the defensive end of the floor, Fisher caused 17 turnovers while the Panthers were only able to turn the Cardinals over eight times overall.

The Cardinals will continue play in the Great Lakes Invitational at 3 p.m. on Saturday when they battle Hope College inside Ban Johnson Arena.