Men's Basketball | 4/9/2021 10:00:09 PM
Top-seeded St. John Fisher College and No. 2 Utica College advanced to the 2021 Empire 8 Spring Men's Basketball Tournament Championship game after earning semifinal victories on Friday, April 9. St. John Fisher rallied late to earn a 66-63 win No. 4 seed Russell Sage College, while the Pioneers outlasted No. 3 seed Nazareth College, 69-59.
NO. 1 ST. JOHN FISHER 66, NO. 4 RUSSELL SAGE 63
Brendan Trapper and
Daniel Cook combined for 38 points in the semifinal win, as the Cardinals moved to 11-1 following the victory while the Gators had their season come to a close at 4-5.
Down 22-15, Fisher found its footing on both ends as the home team orchestrated a 19-2 run fueled by three from behind the arc including two from
Louden Porter while the Gators converted just one of 10 attempts from the field over a span of 6:30 to stake Fisher to a 34-24 lead. The Cardinals led 39-34 at the break.
Up by one possession, Fisher was never able to create any separation on the scoreboard as the Gators hung around and eventually took a 63-62 lead after scoring seven unanswered points. With under a minute to play and trailing by one, the Cardinals put the ball in the Empire 8 Player of the Year's hands as Cook penetrated and leaped over three players as the ball bounced off the backboard and in to reclaim the lead with 46 seconds still showing on the clock.
Down by a point with time working against it, Sage called a timeout to draw up a play, but the Cardinals swarmed the ball as
Sean Williams, who was named the Empire 8 defensive Player of the Year on Thursday, picked off the pass and pushed the ball across the timeline.
With 38 seconds left in the game, the Gators did not foul as Cook held the ball at the top of the key. As the shot clock hit single digits, the Honeoye Falls native made his move and hit a cutting Trapper who sank a turnaround fade away bucket with seven ticks remaining on the game clock to give Fisher some breathing room.
Facing a three-point gap, Sage tried to heave up a final second shot to send the game into overtime, but it was off the mark as Fisher held on to advance to Sunday's finale.
Amani Cummings and Jalon Borders combined to score 35 points for the Gators in the loss.
NO. 2 UTICA 69, NO. 3 NAZARETH 59
The Pioneers defeated the Nazareth Golden Flyers on Friday night 69-59 in what was UC's first ever home playoff game.
The two teams battled throughout the first half in a back-and-forth first 20 minutes.
Chris Green led the Pioneers with eight points heading into halftime while Nazareth carried a 32-30 lead into the locker room. Green would finish the game with 12 points and five rebounds. Both teams shot about the same from the field in the first half as Nazareth was 14-31 while UC converted on 12 of 31 shots.
Utica took control of the game over the first nine minutes of the second half, out-scoring the Golden Flyers 18-5 over the first nine minutes. Utica shot 52 percent from the field while also converting on 62.5 percent of its threes in the second half. Two of those three-point shots came in timely fashion by
Avery Coston who sank two as the shot clock expired. Coston wound up with 13 points off the bench.
Kobe Lufkin finished with 10 points in the second half as well as leading the team with 16 overall for the game.
Kimedrick Murphy was an immovable force inside the paint all game as "Hamma" finished with nine points and 11 rebounds while dishing out a pair of assists.
Darius Hopkins also contributed 12 points on 4-7 shooting from the field.
Jonathan Park finished with a double-double, tallying 12 points and 11 boards for the Golden Flyers, who finished 2021 with a 8-3 mark.
St. John Fisher and Utica will meet at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon for the Empire 8 Championship. The Cardinals are looking to make it back-to-back E8 titles and win their tenth league title in program history, while Utica is attempting to win its first league championship. St. John Fisher won the lone regular season meeting between the two squads, 85-69 on March 18. St. John Fisher out-scored Utica, 54-25 in the second half of that contest, as Cook went for 36 points and 12 boards,
2021 Empire 8 Spring Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, April 6 - First Round
No. 3 Nazareth defeats No. 6 Elmira, 64-54 - STATS
No. 4 Russell Sage defeats No. 5 Keuka, 79-58 - STATS
Friday, April 9 - Semifinals
No. 1 St. John Fisher defeats No. 4 Russell Sage, 66-63 - STATS
No. 2 Utica defeats No. 3 Nazareth, 69-59 - STATS
Sunday, April 11 - Championship (at Highest Remaining Seed)
No. 1 St. John Fisher hosts No. 2 Utica - 3 p.m.