UTICA, N.Y. - The St. John Fisher University men's basketball team traveled to Utica University on Tuesday night to compete in an Empire 8 match up. At the end of a 40 minute battle, Fisher fell just short by a final score of 75-69. Fisher now holds an overall record of 5-5, and is 1-2 in conference play. The Pioneers are now 8-2 on the year and are 3-0 in conference play.
The Cardinals started the first-half strong, building up a 13-0 lead just six minutes into the game. Sean Williams started this run for Fisher, tallying the first two points of the game. Ryan Gentile pushed a defensive rebound to Daniel Cook who found Jack Foley on the offensive end to convert on a three point shot. The Cardinals defense caused the Pioneers to turn the ball over six times during the first six minutes of the game, adding to the early success. At the 13:30 mark the Pioneers went on a scoring run of their own, tying the game up at 13 apiece. With 10 minutes left in the first half, the game was a back and forth battle. Matt Lettko took back momentum and finished a layup assisted by Eric Kegler. Foley hit an important bucket with just three minutes left to tie the score at 26-26, assisted by S. Williams. After Foley's tally, the Cardinals could not stay on top, but kept the score close. Utica took the lead and finished out the half with a score of 32-27.
The Pioneers got a fast start coming out of halftime; they quickly went up by 10 points one minute in. Brendan Trapper answered back for Fisher tallying two points to end the Pioneer run. The Cardinals fought back, slowly chipping away at the Utica lead all throughout the second half. Connor Recore had what looked to be a huge play for Fisher at the 11-minute mark. Recore converted his own defensive rebound into two points on the other end, assisted by Akinlana Popoola. Cook added to this run, gettin his own offensive rebound and scoring two points off of it to bring the Cardinals to a seven point deficit. This looked to be the shift Fisher needed to turn things around, but the Pioneer just would not led up. With six minutes left Utica got their biggest lead of the night, they were up 16 points. The Cardinals would not stop fighting back, Cook had 14 points in those last six minutes of the game, but it just was not enough. Fisher comes up just short to the Pioneers by a final score of 75-69.
Cook finished the night with 19 points, three assists, seven rebounds and one block. He went 5-for-6 on his free throws and 53% on field goals. Foley ended with 14 points, one assists, two rebounds, three steals and he went 4-for-7 on three point shots. Trapper finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, one assist, two blocks and one steal. He also finished shooting 83% on free throws.
Up next for the Cardinals, they will travel to Houghton University on Friday Jan. 6 to take on the Highlanders. This Empire 8 matchup is set to start at 7:30 pm.
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