By: St. John Fisher Athletics
ALLIANCE, OH – The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team saw its season come to a close in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship on Friday night as the Cardinals fell to nationally-ranked York College of Pennsylvania, 88-67, inside the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex on the campus of the University of Mount Union. With the defeat, Fisher, which made its 17th appearance in the National Tournament, concluded the 2019-20 season at 19-9. The Spartans, who are ranked 25th in the latest D3hoops.com national poll, improved to 23-5 on the year and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday night.
The Cardinals got off to a torrid pace as Fisher connected on three from behind the 3-point line over the first three minutes to play to hold a 9-5 edge. York would keep pace, however, and take a brief lead after converting an old-fashioned 3-point play before Sammy Robinson drilled a step-back 3-pointer to push Fisher ahead 16-14 with 14:28 remaining in the opening period.
After swapping baskets over the next three minutes, the Cardinals found themselves on the wrong end of an 18-2 run that included 10 unanswered points from the Spartans to make it 35-20 in York's favor.
Trailing by double digits, Fisher pulled to within 11 points on a pair of free throws from Robinson, but York quickly pushed its advantage back to 15 after knocking down four freebies of its own to hold a 39-24 cushion.
As the first half wore on, the Cardinals continued to work their offense and produced a 6-2 burst to make it 45-34 with under a minute to go, but York took advantage of a late foul with two points at the charity stripe to push its lead back to 13.
Down 13 with time for one final possession, Fisher pushed the pace and worked the ball inside to Robinson who quickly drew a double team. Despite the pressure, the senior managed to flip the ball over his shoulder to a streaking Dylan Harrington who kissed it off the glass as time expired to send Fisher into the locker room down 11, 47-36.
Coming out of the break, the Cardinals cut the deficit to nine points after Robinson found James Leone on a backdoor cut, but the Spartans were able to steal away the momentum after stringing together a 9-2 run to hold a 16-point edge, 62-46.
Facing its largest gap of the night, Fisher moved the ball across the timeline and settled into its offense. With time ticking down on the shot clock, Mark Valeriani fired up a 3-pointer at the top of the key that found nothing but net as the junior was fouled in the process and finished off the four-point play to make it a 12-point game.
With under 10 minutes remaining in the game, York began to pull away as the Spartans scored 10 of the game's next 14 points including two more 3-pointers to open up an 18-point advantage, 72-54. From there, the lead would grow to as many as 22 down the stretch before the final horn sounded.
Matt Asenjo led the way for Fisher with 17 points, five rebounds and four steals while Dennis Hare added 13 points in 34 minutes. Robinson finished with 13 points on the day and concluded his prolific career with 1,470 total pints – good for sixth on Fisher's all-time scoring list. Leone added seven points and eight rebounds for Fisher while Sean Williams chipped in with five points, five steals, four assists and two rebounds.