ELMIRA, N.Y. – Junior Brendan Trapper and sophomore Daniel Cook combined to score 41 on Friday as the St. John Fisher College men's basketball team survived a scare on the road after hanging on for a 72-62 win over Elmira College in an Empire 8 clash inside Speidel Gymnasium. With the win, Fisher moved to 2-0 on the year and in the Empire 8 standings while the Soaring Eagles finished the night at 0-2 overall.

Trapper matched his career high from Wednesday with 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting while Cook notched his second consecutive double-double with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.  Trapper also added seven rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots in 33 minutes.  Ryan Gentile added 10 points in the win while Louden Porter netted six points in all. Mark Valeriani chipped in with five points and four assists while Nick Klein added three points and pulled down four boards.

Fisher got out to an early lead after an old-fashioned 3-point play from Valeriani sparked a 9-2 run that made it 17-7 in the Cardinals' favor with just over 10 minutes having gone by in the opening half.

The Soaring Eagles slowed Fisher's momentum briefly with a 3-pointer on the wing to cut the gap to seven, but the visitors countered in a big way after scoring 17 unanswered points including eight from Cook to open up a 34-10 lead.

After closing out the first half with a modest 5-0 run, the Soaring Eagles would carry their momentum over into the second half and cut the Cardinals' advantage down to eight points, 47-39, with 13:47 still remaining in the game.

Clinging to an eight-point margin, Fisher looked to slow the pace, but the home team continued to apply the pressure on both ends of the floor and used an 8-0 burst to pull to within two points before Klein and Porter answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to stake the Cardinals to some breathing room, 55-47.

As the game wore on, both teams exchanged baskets down the stretch with Fisher gaining a 10-point lead only to see the Soaring Eagles fight back to within a two possession difference.

Ahead by six with 2:36 still showing on the clock, Fisher regained control after Trapper came up with a big block on the defensive end of floor before hammering home a dunk on the other end as Fisher scored 10 of the game's final 15 points to close out the road win.

As a team, the Cardinals were 29-for-54 (.537) from the field and had 16 dimes overall.  Defensively, Fisher protected the rim with six blocks and out-rebounded Elmira, 26-18.

The Cardinals are scheduled to return to play at 1 p.m. on Sunday when they travel to Utica to face the Pioneers in an Empire 8 bout.