BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The St. John Fisher University men's basketball team played the second game of the Medgar Evers Tournament on Friday Dec. 30 against SUNY Canton. At the end of regulation, Fisher came out on top by a score of 96-74. The Cardinals now jump to 5-4 on the season, while the Cougars fall to 3-11.
Ryan Gentile started the scoring for the game off a jump shot assisted by Sean Williams. Fisher held their biggest lead of the half, five points, just five minutes into the game with a three pointer again by Gentile assisted by S. Williams. The Cardinals held the lead for the majority of the first half. Connor Recore converted on a three point shot assisted by Cole Thompson to bring the Cardinals up by three. The Roos fought back and kept the score close with back and forth scoring between the two teams throughout all 20 minutes. The Cardinals biggest deficit of the half was just three points, which they wasted no time closing in on. Joe Morrell finished a three, assisted by S. Williams, to tie the game up at 33 with three minutes left in the half. Daniel Cook, Brendan McRoy and Eric Kegler all tallied points in the last 1:40 of the half, trying to hold onto the lead for Fisher. The Roos tied it up with six second left and the two teams went into halftime tied at 41.
The Roos took an early lead in the second half, giving Fisher their biggest deficit of the night, six points. The game took a turn in The Cardinals favor with 14:15 left in the game. Cook made two free throws to tie the game up at 55. Fisher then gained a lead of two off a layup by Brendan Trapper , assisted by Matt Lettko. After this momentum shift with 11 minutes left, the Cardinals started to dominate the game and never gave the lead up. Trapper finished on a layup assisted by S. Williams, made a free throw and a good jump shot assisted by Akinlana Poopola all in 30 seconds to bring Fishers lead to 20 with just under three minutes left. Trapper finished the second half with 15 points. Cook with 16 points and S. Williams with nine points and four assisted, contributing heavily to the second half success for the Cardinals. Brad Fowler finished a layup to secure at 96-74 win over the Roos after 40 minutes of play.
Cook had a huge game finishing with 24 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, one block and two steals. He also went 8-for-10 on his free throws and 61% on field goals. Trapper ended with 19 points, two assisted, and eight rebounds. Going 7-for-12 on field goals and 63% on free throws. S. Williams had 14 points, two rebounds and a team high of eight assists and five steals on the night. He went 4-for-6 on free throws and 55% on field goals.
Up next for the Cardinals, the team will travel to Utica, N.Y. and take on Utica University. The game is set for Tuesday, January 3rd at 7:30 pm.
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