PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team remained perfect in Empire 8 play on Sunday as the Cardinals cruised to a 100-68 win over the visiting Russell Sage Gators inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.  With the win, Fisher improved to 3-1 on the year and 3-0 in the conference standings while the Gators fell to 1-1 on both fronts.

Both teams traded buckets over the first five minutes of play as the Cardinals gained a 12-9 lead following an old-fashioned 3-point play from sophomore Daniel Cook.  Sage would keep it close as the Gators tied the score at 14-14, but Fisher buckled down defensively and put together a 10-0 run featuring five points from Brendan Trapper to open up a 24-14 edge.

As the first half wore down, Sage would cut the gap to eight points following a lay-up, but was unable to match Fisher's pace with the Cardinals going 3-for-4 from the field over a span of three minutes to open up a 39-25 cushion.

Leading by double digits, Fisher continued to push the tempo and eventually built a 15-point lead heading into the break after Sean Williams buried a triple at the buzzer to stake the home team to a 49-34 advantage.

Coming out of the break, the Gators strung together six unanswered points to force Fisher into a timeout, but their momentum fizzled out with Fisher draining eight of its next nine shots including an alley-oop dunk from Trapper as part of a 19-6 run that made it 68-46.

As the game wore on, Sage was never really able to mount a threat while Fisher continued to have its way on the offensive end of the floor as the lead grew to as many as 34 points before the final horn sounded.

Trapper led the team in scoring for the fourth consecutive game after going 8-for-12 from the floor for 22 points.  The junior also pulled down five boards and handed out two assists in the win.  Mark Valeriani drained five from downtown and finished with 17 points while Ryan Gentile netted 17 points and had a game-high six steals.  Cook added 15 points and eight boards while Williams contributed 13 points, four assists, three dimes and three steals in 27 minutes.

Fisher will return to action at 7 p.m. on Tuesday when it travels to Nazareth College to play the Golden Flyers in the 99th meeting of the Battle of the Beaks.