Box Score
Pittsford, NY (January 18, 2014) – The Utica College men's basketball team lost to host St. John Fisher College 83-65 in Empire 8 Conference action at Manning Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. UC freshman Kendall Brown (Queens, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) led the Pioneers with a career-high 15 points (3-for-3 from 3-point), but the Cardinals used a 13-4 run in the final 3:15 of the contest to earn the 18 point victory.

UC is now 6-9 overall and 1-5 in Empire 8 Conference play. The Pioneers will return home for the first of a three game home stand on Friday when they take on visiting Hartwick College in a conference contest at 6 p.m. Utica hopes to rebound from an early season loss (92-77) at the hand of the Hawks.

The contest featured eight lead changes and one tie, but the Cardinals earned the lead with seven minutes to go in the first half and never looked back. Utica's largest lead of the game was 25-20 midway through the first half of play.

Marion Lewis (Bronx, NY/Lehman) and Agim Hamiti (Prishtina, Kosovo/Syracuse Academy of Science) each added eight points off the bench for the Pioneers, while Chris Jeffers (Albany, NY/Bishop Maginn) and Mark Felicia (Phoenix, NY/Phoenix) chipped in with seven points apiece. 10 different Pioneers scored at least two points in the contest.

Fisher jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first 4:30 of the contest behind 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, while causing three turnovers on the defensive end.

Utica answered with an 18-5 run to earn its largest lead of the contest, 25-20, at the 9:48 mark of the first half. UC was a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point land in the stretch. Freshman Michael Howard (Bronx, NY/John F. Kennedy) led the Pioneer push as he netted five early points for UC. However, Fisher answered with a 16-2 run in a span of 5:06 to take 36-27 with 4:42 to go in the first half of play. The Cardinals maintained the lead for the remainder of the half and went into the locker room with an 11 point advantage, 42-31, as the halftime horn sounded.

Fisher extended its lead to 15 points, 49-34, at the 14:45 mark of the second half after a 7-0 run to open the stanza. Utica responded with a 27-21 run in a span of 10:56 to cut Fisher's lead to 70-61 with 3:49 to go, but that was as close as the Pioneers would get. Brown scored 12 points in the stretch to pace the Pioneers. Fisher dominated the final 3:31 by outscoring UC 13-5 to earn the 18 point victory.

Bock led the Cardinals with 21 points, while Lott and Kinard each chipped in with 14 apiece. Fisher improved to 10-5 overall and 5-1 in the Empire 8.