Fisher Knocks Off Pioneers for First Empire 8 Victory
The St. John Fisher College men’s basketball team earned its first Empire 8 Conference victory with a 72-60 win over host Utica College. With the win the Cardinals are now 8-5 on the year with a 1-1 mark in conference.
In a true defensive effort without big man Jason Norsen who left Friday night’s game with a shoulder injury against Ithaca College, the Cardinals led most of the way.
The Pioneers narrowed the score to 48-46 with 9:06 remaining in the game but after a timeout by head coach Rob Kornaker the Cardinals responded with a run, outscoring Utica 24-12 down the stretch.
The Cardinals opened the game with a 5-0 run and headed into halftime with a 33-26 lead.
Fisher was led by senior Jordan Gettings who scored a game-high 22 points while collecting five rebounds and dispersing four assists. Freshman David Lynch had a huge first half, leading all scorers in the stanza with 11 points, finishing the game with a career-high 14. Grant Wrap, in just his third game back from an injury, had the task of stepping into Norsen’s center role, doing a nice job with 11 points and three rebounds.
Optimystik Kinard had three blocked shots for Fisher along with a team-high six boards and seven points. Justin Plata filled the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.