The Utica College men's basketball team lost to visiting St. John Fisher College 88-60 in Empire 8 Conference play on the hardwood at the Clark Athletic Center Friday night. The Pioneers led by as many as three points midway through the first half of play but the Cardinals closed out the half on a 24-12 run and never looked back as they improved to 9-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play. Junior guard James Patterson led the way for Utica (5-6, 0-3 E8) with 18 points, five assists and three steals, while senior Patrick Goodman added ten points and nine rebounds.

Fisher shot 57.8% from the floor on the day and held the Pioneers to 37.7% shooting. Fisher capitalized on 18 UC turnovers which resulted in 29 points for the Cardinals in the 28 point victory.

Fisher jumped out to a ten point lead, 18-8, in the first 5:37 of play behind six points from Jordan Koch and four points each from Michael Wopperer and Matt Newman. Utica stormed back with a 16-3 run over the course of 3:27 to take three point lead, 24-21, at the 10:56 mark of the first half. Goodman scored six and Patterson added four points in the Pioneers run.

Fisher answered with a 19-4 run in the next 8:43 of play to take a commanding 12 point lead, 40-28, with 2:13 to go in the half. The Pioneers were able to cut the lead to nine, 45-36, as the first half buzzer sounded.

The Cardinal lead diminished to seven points early in the second half but they proved to be too much for UC and they were able to extend their lead to as many as 30 points with 3:37 to go in the contest. Fisher outscored Utica 43-24 in the second half to earn the convincing victory.
Newcomer Evan Taylor scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting off the bench for the Pioneers. Four other UC players would add four points on the evening.

Four players scored in double digits for the Cardinals including Koch (18), Newman (14), Wopperer (14) and Connor Henderson (12). Jordan Gettings added nine points and six assists for Fisher, while Brandon Witte netted eight points and grabbed five boards off the bench.

Utica will hunt for its first conference victory of the season Saturday when they host Nazareth College at 4 p.m. Visit www.ucpioneers.com for links to live video, audio and stats. Fisher looks to make it seven wins in a row when they return home Saturday to take on Ithaca College in conference play at 4 p.m.

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