ALFRED, N.Y. – Junior James Leone finished with a career-high 33 points and a double-double while Sammy Robinson and Ryan Henderson combined for 39 points as the third-seeded St. John Fisher College men's basketball team upended second-seeded Nazareth College, 98-90, in overtime on Friday in the Empire 8 Championship semifinals.  With the win, Fisher improved to 18-8 on the season and will advance to face top-seeded Alfred University at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday for the Empire 8 title.  The winner of that game will also earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

Leone was 11-for-20 on the night and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.  The junior guard also contributed 11 boards and four assists in the win.  Henderson, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Year on Thursday, netted 22 points and six rebounds while Robinson posted 17 points, eight boards and a game-high five assists.  The junior forward currently needs just 22 points to surpass 1,000 for his career.  Dylan Harrington and Jordan Gilman came off the bench and scored nine points apiece while Sean Williams chipped in with four points, four rebounds and four dimes in 24 minutes.

After playing from behind to begin the second half, Fisher erased a four-point deficit and opened up its first lead of the game since the 13:24 mark of the first half when Robinson capped off a modest 5-0 run with a pair of free throws to make it 52-51.

The lead would be short-lived, however, as Nazareth reclaimed the advantage with four unanswered points of its own.  From there, neither team was able to gain a clear advantage as the game featured three ties before a 12-1 run by the Cardinals that included eight points from Leone staked Fisher to a 72-65 lead with 4:06 left to go.

Following a pair of freebies by Nazareth, the Cardinals' lead would grow to eight points when Leone buried one of his four 3-pointers on the night to make it 75-67.  The Golden Flyers, however, would answer with a three of their own as part of a 5-0 run to pull to within three points, 75-72.

With momentum beginning to shift, Fisher turned to Robinson who answered the call with a deep 3-pointer at the top of the key to give Fisher some breathing room, but the hot shooting continued for Nazareth as it answered in kind with another from distance to keep it at a one possession game. 

Trailing by three with time winding down, the Golden Flyers would hit a timely jumper to pull to within one point, 78-77, and resorted to fouling with 19 seconds left to conserve time.  Gilman stepped to the line and knocked down the first to make it a two-point game, but was unable to hit the second attempt as Nazareth brought the ball down with one final possession ahead. 

After calling a timeout to regroup, the Golden Flyers worked the ball inside and were able to hit a short jumper as time expired to knot the game up at 79-79 at the end of regulation. 

With overtime underway, Fisher went to work inside as Leone found Henderson on the block to make it an 81-79 affair.  After forcing a contested jumper on the other end of the floor, Fisher hurried its pace as Leone rose up and dunked it home to spark an 8-1 run that opened up a seven-point lead, 87-80, with 2:13 still showing on the clock. 

From there, Nazareth would come to within five points, but was never able to come up with a stop on the defensive end of the floor as Fisher closed out the overtime period with nine points at the free throw line to seal the win.

Overall, Fisher was 33-of-71 (.465) from the field, however, head coach Mike Grosodonia II's squad went 22-of-29 from the charity stripe in the win.  The Cardinals had 20 assists on the night against just 11 turnovers and held their opponent to just 39 percent shooting from the field.