PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Ryan Henderson and
Sammy Robinson combined to score 52 points on Friday night as the Cardinals outlasted first place Nazareth College, 91-81, inside Kidera Gymnasium in the second round of this season's Battle of the Beaks. With the win, Fisher, which has now won four of its last five games, improved to 14-7 overall and moved to within one game of first place in the Empire 8 standings at 9-3. Nazareth concluded the day at 16-5 on the year and 10-2 in the Empire 8.
Henderson, who was named the Empire 8 Player of the Week on Monday, finished with a team-high 28 points while Robinson posted his third double-double of the year with 24 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Freshman
Brendan Trapper added 11 points and nine boards while
Jordan Gilman netted 10 points off the bench.
James Leone nearly had a triple-double and stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, eight rebounds and a career-high nine assists overall.
The Cardinals shook off a slow start that saw them fall behind 17-3 with five minutes gone by. After calling a timeout to regroup, Fisher found its footing and reeled off a 20-3 run of its own fueled by nine points from Henderson to turn a double-digit deficit into a three-point lead, 23-20.
Trailing by three, Nazareth stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer of its own to tie the game as the home team recovered and used an 8-2 run to retake the lead, 28-25. From there, the Golden Flyers lead would grow to four points before Robinson knocked down back-to-back jumpers including a 3-pointer to stake Fisher to a 33-32 edge.
The lead would change hands two more times over the final four minutes of the first half before both teams headed into the break tied at 40-40.
Coming out of halftime, Fisher took a quick lead with Robinson finding Henderson on the block for a lay-up that sparked a 7-2 run and pushed the score to 47-42 in the visitors' favor. The Cardinals' lead would grow to seven points following consecutive baskets from Henderson and Robinson, but the lead would be short-lived as Nazareth battled back to tie things up at 55-55.
With the game tied and over 12 minutes still left to go, Fisher retained the lead, but was never able to gain a significant advantage as the Golden Flyers kept things close. Ahead by four points, 70-66, with five minutes showing on the game clock, Fisher took over as the Cardinals scored 12 of the game's next 16 points including six unanswered to open up an 82-70 margin.
The lead would grow to as many as 13 points in the final minute as Fisher avenged an early-semester loss to Nazareth and moved to within striking distance of the top overall seed in the upcoming Empire 8 Championship with four games remaining in the regular season race.
Fisher will look to continue its hot play at 2 p.m. on Sunday when it travels to Oneonta to battle the Hartwick College Hawks in an Empire 8 showdown.
