ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team retained its untainted Empire 8 record following a 21-point victory at East Avenue rival, Nazareth College, inside Kidera Gymnasium. With a 83-62 final score in favor of the Cardinals, Fisher moves to 4-1 on the year and a perfect 4-0 in the conference. The Golden Flyers dropped to 5-2 overall and lost their first game in Empire 8 play, sliding to 5-1.
Two-time Empire 8 Player of the Week,
Brendan Trapper, had his best scoring performance to date, as the junior logged 34 points on 13-22 shooting from the field and added 5 three-pointers. Trapper also tacked on five rebounds, three blocks, and two steals in the victory. The Buffalo native has now bested his career's highest-scoring affair for a third time this season.
Daniel Cook recorded his third double-double of the season after scoring 21 points and nabbing 12 boards in the matchup. Junior
Ryan Gentile added 12 points to the event, while classmate
Sean Williams dished out eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Cardinals got out to an early lead following a made three-pointer and old-fashioned three-point play from Trapper.
The home team battled back to score three consecutive buckets and regain a five-point lead, but four straight layups, shared by
Nick Klein and Gentile, ignited Fisher to outscore its opponent 15-6 headed into the intermission.
Fisher then went onto ignite a 25-1 scoring run to create an insurmountable 29-point scoring deficit. Nazareth trimmed the Cardinals' lead to 13 with five minutes to play in regulation, but Fisher used a fast break dunk from Trapper to swing momentum back in favor of the visitors. The Cardinals went on to score 13 of the game's last 20 points, extending the Cardinals' final lead to 21 points.
Fisher shot an even 50% from the field on 35-70 shooting and 33.3% from downtown, while they also outrebounded their opponent 46-33.
The Cardinals will look to remain flawless in the Empire 8 this Thursday, March 18 when they travel to Utica College for a conference bout with the Pioneers, tipping off at 5:30 P.M.
