HAMBURG, NY – The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College men's basketball team made quick work of host Hilbert College on Saturday as the No. 25 Cardinals won the 10th annual Hilbert College Tip-Off Tournament behind a 97-62 win inside the Hafner Recreation Center. With the win, Fisher improved to 2-1 on the year while the Hawks suffered their first loss of the year and closed out the day at 2-1.
James Leone scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor as the senior also added seven rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Junior Matt Asenjo added 16 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown while Dennis Hare finished with 15 points and four rebounds. Senior Sammy Robinson collected his third straight double-double with 12 points and 10 boards while Brendan Trapper chipped in with a double-double of his own with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Williams was once again the top distributor in the game with seven helpers.
Hilbert had the hot hand to begin the game, but Fisher quickly turned the tides and used a 17-1 run fueled by six points from Leone to open up a 23-9 lead with eight minutes still to play in the first half.
The lead would grow to 20 points following a jumper from Trapper before the Hawks scored five of the game's next six points to cut the deficit to 16 points. From there, however, Fisher found its stride and closed out the half with a 14-2 run to hold a 46-18 cushion at intermission.
The Cardinals continued to keep their foot on the gas as the second half got underway as Asenjo connected on three straight 3-pointers to push Fisher's lead to 33 points, 57-24.
Holding a large margin with five minutes having ticked off the clock in the second half, Fisher continued to knock down shots as head coach
Mike Grosodonia II's team rattled off 14 unanswered points to hold a commanding 45-point advantage, 77-32.
As the game wore down, Hilbert was never able to climb out of the hole as Fisher cruised to the 35-point win. In all, Fisher set two new tournament records including 57 rebounds and 25 assists while Williams' nine dimes on Friday were an individual game record. Both Hare and Robinson were named to the All-Tournament Team following their performances over the weekend.
As a team, Fisher was 38-for-77 (.494) from the field and buried seven 3-pointers in the win. The Cardinals were efficient from the charity stripe as well with 14 makes in 17 attempts. Fisher pulled down a season-best 57 rebounds in the win and held Hilbert to just 21 rebounds overall.
Fisher will look to keep its momentum going at 8 p.m. on Thursday when it travels to the University of Rochester to take part in the annual Mark's Pizzeria Crosstown Shootout.