UTICA, NY - After falling to the St. John Fisher Cardinals in last year's Empire 8 Tournament, the Utica Pioneers men's basketball team was determined to avenge their loss in tonight's contest. Utica defeated St. John Fisher by a score of 82-81 to remain undefeated in conference play. 
 
Four Utica players tallied double digits in the victory with Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) leading the way with 20 points (7-14 FG). The graduate student also dominated down low with a career high six blocks. Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) played a huge role in the victory, adding 17 points (8-11 FG) and eight rebounds while making many hustle plays throughout the night. Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) was water from downtown, making four-of-five threes, and totaling 15 points. Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) had a career high 12 points as well, along with several great passes to set up fast break scores. 
 
Utica's efficient 54 percent shooting from the field guided them to tonight's victory, despite losing by seven in the rebound department. 
 
Utica came out the gate hot, opening up a 10 point lead just seven minutes into the game. The team shot 8-for-12 from the field in this stretch, led by Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy), Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy), and Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill), who all had at least five a piece at this point. 
 
Fisher found themselves down early largely due to lack of ball control for the first ten minutes. Halfway through the first, Dayion Thompson (Beacon, NY/Kimball Union Academy) intercepted a pass, and took the ball the other way to convert an and-one layup. Allowing Utica to get transition points off turnovers hurt the Cardinals early on. 
 
Barasa kept fueling the fire, hitting back-to-back threes, keeping the Cardinals at bay. Call would later award himself a fast break dunk after tipping a pass right to Barasa, who threw a beautiful pass up court, setting up the slam and igniting the crowd. 
 
Fisher's top scorer and three-time Empire 8 Player of the Year, Daniel Cook, was contained in the first half, scoring only four points. Utica made it a point of emphasis to take Cook out of the picture as his first shot attempt didn't come until fourteen minutes into the game. 
 
Call paced all Pioneers in the opening frame, notching 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Brantley had nine and Barasa added eight. 
 
After being shut down in the first, Daniel Cook woke up to start the second, scoring eight of Fisher's first 10 points. 
 
The Cardinals brought more pressure in the second, double teaming Utica ball handlers and causing turnovers. Momentum began to shift with Fisher getting transition buckets off turnovers as they would briefly take the lead halfway through the frame. Their lead was very short lived as less than a minute later, Brantley would drill the three to regain the advantage. 
 
Despite Utica reopening a nine point lead, Fisher showed no quit, constantly battling on both ends and bringing the game back to within a point with four minutes remaining. Their resilience wasn't quite enough for the Pioneers who would retain the lead for the rest of the contest. 
 
Brantley took the ball to the dish with two minutes left and finished with a strong and-one layup to put the Pioneers up eight. He would later convert two more free throws on the next possession to extend the lead to double digits. 
 
Once again, Fisher didn't quit. The Cardinals clawed their way back to within a point with an off-balance Daniel Cook three. Their last-ditch efforts, while remarkable, weren't quite enough to bring them back as the Pioneers etched out the one-point victory. 
 
Utica (11-2, 4-0 Empire 8) will travel to Elmira, NY to take on the Elmira College Soaring Eagles on Friday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m.