Men's Basketball | 11/6/2021 9:43:00 PM

 
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team made its season debut on Saturday night in the Bill Sudeck Tournament hosted by Case Western Reserve University as the Cardinals, who are receiving votes in the latest D3hoops.com national poll fell just short in a close game against the Ohio Northern University Polar Bears, 72-65, inside Horsburgh Gymnasium.  With the loss, Fisher moves on in the season with an 0-1 record while Ohio Northern will play in the title game on Sunday sporting a 1-0 mark to begin the season.
 
Both teams started off slow on the offensive end of the court as the Cardinals were only able to score seven points in the first 10 minutes of play.
 
As the half wore on, Fisher would gain some traction behind senior Brendan Trapper who scored 10 in the first half. With halftime approaching, the Cardinals would closed the gap to head into the half down 10 points, 32-22.
 
As the second half got underway, the tides began to shift in Fisher's favor as the Cardinals orchestrated a 15-3 run to turn a 10-point deficit into a 37-35 lead just five minutes in.
 
With time winding down, both teams continued to trade possessions before the Polar Bears gained control of the momentum and began to pull away with a six-point lead in tow late in the stanza.
 
With fewer than two minutes to play, Matt Lettko turned defense into offense as the sophomore came up with a steal before dumping it off to Trapper who converted a breakaway lay-up to pull Fisher to within four points,65-61.
 
From there, Fisher resorted to fouling to conserve time, but the Polar Bears were able make their free throws to close out the game and win 72-65.
 
As a team, the Cardinals ended up shooting just .400 from the field. Defensively, Fisher forced 15 turnovers led by the reigning Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year Sean Williams who, along with Cole Thompson, had three steals in the loss.
 
Trapper finished with a game-high 16 points and was perfect at the free throw stripe shooting 6-for-6. Lettko and Daniel Cook finished with 11 points each while Ian Duncan netted seven points overall. Cook, who was named a Fourth-Team Preseason All-American earlier in the week, also had nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks to finish the night.
 
The Cardinals will be right back in action on Sunday as they take on either Wisconsin Eau-Claire or Case Western reserve in the consolation game of the Bill Sudeck Tournament.