St. John Fisher Men to Host First and Second Round NCAA Games

St. John Fisher Men to Host First and Second Round NCAA Games

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The St. John Fisher College men's basketball program will host Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday in the First Round of the NCAA Division III Championship.   Amherst College and Sage College will play at 5:30 p.m. at Fisher with the two winners squaring off at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Second Round action at Fisher's Manning & Napier Varsity Gym with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
 
Ticket prices will be announced at a later date.

The Cardinals are 1-0 all-time against WPI.  The Engineers own a 21-5 overall record and received an at-large bid to NCAAs.

Fisher earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship after winning the Empire 8 Conference Championship over the weekend.  The top-seeded Cardinals shot 55.3% and had five players score in double figures, as the Cardinals came through with a 77-62 win over No. 2 Alfred University.
 
It is the fifth time the Cardinals have won the Empire 8 Championship, but the first since 2006-2007.

This is Fisher's 15th appearance in the national tournament since 1992 and its first since 2010.

Fisher's 23-4 overall record marks the 15th time the Cardinals have won 20 or more games in a season, and the seventh time in head coach Rob Kornaker's 14-year tenure.

Fisher enters NCAA play ranking among the national leaders in several categories, including: field goal percentage (50.3% - fourth); scoring margin (+16.2 ppg - fifth) and scoring defense (61.7 ppg – 28th).
 
The Cardinals feature a balanced offensive attack with five players averaging 10 or more points, including one of the nation's top guard-center combinations.

Junior Chaz Lott, a two-time Empire 8 All-Conference First Teams election, leads the Empire 8 and ranks 11th nationally in assists with 5.9 per game, while averaging 9.9 points.    Sophomore Keegan Ryan, the Empire 8 Player of the Year, is averaging 15.9 points and 9.4 rebounds, while shooting 57.8% from the floor (21st-best shooting percentage in the nation).

Seniors Stefan Bock and Optimystik Kinard are both averaging 10.2 points per game and are two of the team's top defenders.  Bock, the Empire 8 Championship MVP after scoring a career-high 25 points in the title game, leads Fisher in steals, while Kinard leads the team in blocked shots.
 
Junior Tyler Hart is coming off the bench and is averaging 10.0 point per game, and is second on the team in 3-pointers, while senior Adam Ambielli is averaging 8.6 points per game and leads the team in 3-pointers with 40.  Both guards are shooting over 40% for the year from beyond the arc.
 
"We're excited about this opportunity and the chance to play at home," says Kornaker, who was named as the Empire 8's Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career.  "With WPI, Amherst and Sage, it is a great four-team tournament. We're thrilled to be hosting and we're going to do our best to represent St. John Fisher College and the Empire 8 Conference."
 
NCAA - Interactive Bracket