Men's Basketball | 2/29/2020 9:23:47 PM
No. 2 seed St. John Fisher College rallied from a 20-point first half deficit to defeat top-seeded Nazareth College, 72-64 in the 2019-20 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship game on Feb. 29 from Kidera Gymnasium on the campus of Nazareth. The Cardinals receive an automatic berth into the 2020 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Championship, which begins on March 6-7.
With the win, Fisher, which has now claimed nine Empire 8 titles in its history, improved to 19-8 on the year while the Golden Flyers finished the weekend with a 21-6 mark. The Cardinals will advance to their first NCAA tournament since reaching the second round in 2017. Fisher will find out where and who it faces in the opening round at 12:30 p.m. on Monday during the NCAA Selection Show at
www.ncaa.com.
St. John Fisher senior
Dennis Hare was named the Empire 8 Tournament’s Most Valuable Player after finishing with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He also added four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in the win. Classmate
Sammy Robinson netted 21 points and six boards of his own while
Matt Asenjo finished with his first double-double of the season on 16 points and 10 rebounds.
It was all Nazareth in the early going as the Golden Flyers jumped out to a 35-15 lead in the first half. Trailing by 20 with just over five minutes remaining in the opening frame, Fisher went to work as the Cardinals' offense sprang to life with a 15-2 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Asenjo to pull to within seven points, 37-30 with 1:35 still showing on the clock. From there, Nazareth buried a triple to push its advantage back to double figures, but Robinson countered with a 3-pointer of his own to keep it a seven-point affair at the break.
The Cardinals carried the momentum over to begin the second half as a free throw from Asenjo sparked a 9-0 run to stake the visitors to their first lead of the game, 42-40.
After the Golden Flyers battled back to tie the game at 42-42, Fisher's offense produced another run in the form of a 9-3 burst that was bookended by two 3-pointers from hare to open up its largest lead of the game, 51-45.
With just over 11 minutes to go in the game, Nazareth would cut the gap to four points, but was unable to come up with a timely stop on the defensive end of the floor as the Cardinals took advantage with four quick points to hold an eight-point edge.
With momentum favoring the Cardinals, the tides seemed to shift as the Golden Flyers found a rhythm and scored 14 of the game's next 16 points including 11 unanswered to pull ahead, 63-59 with under four minutes to play in the contest.
Trailing by four and with time winding down, the Cardinals returned the favor as Harrington and Asenjo connected on back-to-back threes to spark a 13-1 run to close out the game with head coach
Mike Grosodonia II's squad earning the conference title in the process.
As a team, Fisher was 25-for-61 from the floor and buried nine from distance in all. The Cardinals out-rebounded Nazareth, 40-33, and forced the Golden Flyers in to 14 turnovers on the day.
Isaac Nelson led the Golden Flyers with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Zach Stenglein added 12 points, 10 boards and six assists.
The Cardinals won two of three meetings between the two programs in 2019-20. Both teams split a pair of hard-fought battles earlier in the season. Park hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds that gave Nazareth a 75-73 win at Kidera Gymnasium on Jan. 28. St. John Fisher exacted revenge by pulling out a 79-75 win in the regular season finale on its home court on Feb. 22. Park had 16 points and 15 rebounds in Nazareth’s win on Jan. 28, while Hare led Fisher with 25 points, six boards and four assists in Fisher’s victory last weekend.
2020 Empire 8 Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Friday, February 28 – Semifinals at Nazareth
No. 1 Nazareth 95, No. 4 Sage 85
No. 2 St. John Fisher 81, No. 3 Utica 68
Saturday, February 29 - Championship Final at Nazareth
No. 2 St. John. Fisher 72, No. 1 Nazareth 64
2020 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament Most Outstanding Player
Dennis Hare, Sr., F, St. John Fisher
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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