Men's Basketball | 3/2/2023 12:27:00 PM
PITTSFORD, NY – The St. John Fisher University men's basketball team is set to travel to Swarthmore, PA to compete against Whitworth in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday afternoon at 4:40 pm. The Cardinals head into the weekend fresh off of claiming its 10th Empire 8 Championship and hold a 21-7 overall season record. Swarthmore College and SUNY Delhi are the other two teams, and are competing to move on to day two against the winner of the Cardinals and Pirates.
Scouting the Opponents
This will be the first time in program history that the Cardinals and Pirates compete against each other. Whitworth holds an 18-9 overall record heading into the tournament. They clinched an automatic bid winning the NWC Tournament Championship. The Pirates went into their league tournament as the no. 3 seed and defeated Whitman the no. 1 seed in the Championship. The Pirates are averaging 77.9 points per game and are shooting 47% from the field.
The Pirates forward, JT McDermott leads the team in multiple categories, averaging 13.7 pts/g, 6.4 rebounds per game, tallied 77 assists so far with 17 blocks and 39 steals on the season. Senior guard Michael Smith is averaging 12.7 pts/g, and four 3pt attempts per game. He has 50 assists on the season and averages 3.9 rebounds per game. McDermott received first team selection and Smith earned second team honors for the ALL-NWC men's basketball team. This will be Whitworth's 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the program.
Swarthmore has secured an NCAA Tournament automatic bid by defeating Johns Hopkins in a second-half comeback to win the Centennial Conference Championship. The Garnet's have punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season and will be hosting the first and second round. The team holds an overall record of 24-3 and are 14-0 at home on the season. The Garnets average 77.6 points per game.
SUNY Delhi defeated Maine Farmington in the Atlantic Conference Championship to receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. This is the Broncos first ever NCAA Tournament bid. The team stands at 20-8 on the season and average 85.8 points per game.
Cardinals to Watch
Fisher secured an NCAA Tournament bid by defeating Nazareth in the Empire 8 Championship on Saturday Feb 25. The Cardinals last appeared in the tournament in 2020, and had gone for three straight years prior from 2015-17. Senior forward Daniel Cook earned Empire 8 Player of the Year and was the 2023 conference tournament MVP, he also made the Empire 8 First-Team All-Conference team. He is averaging 18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists.
Ryan Gentile earned Empire 8 Third-Team honors and was named Sportsman of the Year. He is averaging 9.8 points per game, 1.5 assists, 2.2 rebounds and is 47% from three making 53 on the year. The two have also earned Empire 8 All-Tournament Team honors.
Looking Ahead
After the Cardinals compete against Whitworth on Friday night, Swarthmore and SUNY Delhi will match up at 7:10 pm. The winners of the two games will compete on Saturday, March 4 at 7:10 pm in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
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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