Courtesy of Empire8.com
UTICA, NY – After defeating No. 1 seed Utica University in the semi-finals on Friday night, the St. John Fisher University men’s basketball team completed its goal of winning the 2023 Empire 8 Championship, defeating No. 2 seed Nazareth College, 78-62 on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals earn the Empire 8’s automatic bid into the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The Cardinals became just the second No. 4 seed in Empire 8 men’s basketball history to win the league title, joining Ithaca, who did so in 2011-12.
This is St. John Fisher’s league record tenth Empire 8 Championship, having last won in 2019-20.
Tournament Most Valuable Player Daniel Cook led the way with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Connor Recore was right behind with 14 points and eight rebounds. Brendan McRoy had 13 points, five rebounds and one assist. Ryan Gentile finished with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Jonathan Park led Nazareth with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jaylen Savage added 10 points. The Golden Flyers shot just 35 percent from the floor and 13.6 percent (3-for-22) from 3-point range.
Recore got the scoring started for the Cardinals with a layup assisted by Cole Thompson. Cook was next to tally two off another assist from Thompson, giving Fisher an early 4-2 lead. Thompson recorded a steal and took it end-to-end, finishing on a layup bringing the score to 13-6 with 15:43 to go in the first half. Fisher built a lead the Golden Flyers could not close. Matt Lettko recorded a defensive rebound and transitioned the ball down the court to Akinlana Popoola, finding Recore on the other end hitting a three. Ryan Gentile sunk a three to give the Cardinals their biggest lead of the night so far, 34-18, up by 16 with 5:12 to go. Brendan McRoy closed out the scoring with a jump shot bringing the score to 39-24 going into halftime.
Fisher started the second half fast; Gentile hit a three assisted by Foley just 15 seconds in. Coming out of a Fisher timeout, with 17:13 to go, Thompson hit a three assisted by Gentile to bring the score to 49-34. Foley got the ball from the defensive end to Recore who drove hard tallying two bringing the Fisher lead up by 14. With 8:52 to go, Lettko found Cook for a dunk to give Fisher momentum holding an 11-point lead. The Golden Flyers tried to chip away at the gap Fisher created but the closet they could get was within six with 4 minutes to go. Foley finished on a layup with 1:57 to go, to start a 10 point Cardinals run, that ultimately secured a Cardinals victory.
The Cardinals will find out their location and opponent on Monday at 1 p.m. during the Division III men’s basketball selection show.
2022-23 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, February 21 – First Round (at Higher Seed)
No. 3 Alfred defeated No. 6 Medaille, 67-42 – BOX SCORE
No. 4 St. John Fisher defeated No. 5 Hartwick, 103-54 – BOX SCORE
Friday, February 24 – Semifinals (at Utica)
No. 4 St. John Fisher defeated No. 1 Utica, 70-65 – BOX SCORE
No. 2 Nazareth defeated No. 3 Alfred, 73-66 – BOX SCORE
Saturday, February 25 – Championship Final (at Utica)
No. 4 St. John Fisher defeated No. 2 Nazareth, 78-62 – BOX SCORE
2023 Empire 8 Men’s Basketball Tournament MVP
Daniel Cook, Sr,, F, St. John Fisher
Leave a Reply