Rochester, NY - The Utica College men's basketball team dropped its Saturday afternoon road matchup against St. John Fisher by a final score of 84-82. This contest was as back and forth as it could get, as there were a total of 11 lead changes throughout the afternoon. 

Sophomore guard Darius Hopkins (Tampa, FL/Seffner Christian) had a career night, tying his career high of 28 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point land.

The largest lead for either team in the first half was a five-point advantage (29-24) for UC with 7:55 left to play. Both teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half, and Utica held a slim 43-42 advantage heading into the locker room.

The first half of the second stanza held the same script, but St. John Fisher started to pull away to take its biggest lead of the game, 75-62, with 6:50 left on the clock. The Pioneers outscored Fisher 22-9 from this point on heading down the stretch, but they fell just short of taking home the road victory over the E8's second-ranked team.

Hopkins' night was impressive across the board, as he tied his career-high on 11-of-14 shooting from the field.

Junior guard Kobe Lufkin (Argyle, NY/Argyle) was UC's next leading scorer, netting 19 points coming off the bench while shooting a mere perfect 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Freshman point guard Brett Talbert (Deer Park, NY/Knox School) added 13 points of his own in only 19 minutes of play.

Junior center Kimedrick Murphy (Hudson, NY/Hudson), who posted three-straight double-doubles heading into this game, continued his impressive late-season run, as he finished with eight points and eight rebounds in addition to a team-high four assists.

Utica dropped to 17-6 overall and 8-4 in Empire 8 play with this loss. The team remains at third in the conference standings with two more games left in the season.

The Pioneers return home for their final home game of the season against Houghton this Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at Miga Court.