Box Score ROCHESTER, NY - It was a tale of two halves for the Utica University men's basketball team in its road contest at St. John Fisher University on Tuesday evening. 
 
In a game that carried with it home court Empire 8 postseason implications, the Pioneers used a 43 point second period to come back from down 10 at the half to top the Cardinals, 72-63. 
 
Once again, the double-double machine that is Damien Call (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) recorded his eighth of the year with a 16 point, 10 rebound outing on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor. Call was one of four Pioneers to finish in double-figures along with the team leader Justice Brantley (Catskill, NY/Catskill) (20 points, 7-18 FG, 2-4 3PT), Luke Bourgault (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute) (11 points, 4-6 FG), and Thomas Morreale (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) (10 points, 4-5 FG, 5 rebounds). 
 
The Cardinals were led by Daniel Cook's 21 points on 46.7 percent shooting from the field (7-15). He was the lone player on Fisher to finish in double-digits. 
 
Fisher's control of the first half came on 48.5 percent shooting and a plus-seven rebound margin. Along with this, the Cardinals recorded nine second chance points and nine points off turnovers while the Pioneers had six second chance points and one to show off turnovers. 
 
After 20 minutes of play, the Pioneers entered halftime trailing 39-29 with their only lead of the game to that point coming just over two minutes into the game at 3-2. 
 
Over the early to middle portions of the second half, the Pioneers did enough to keep the game within single digits. Morreale came out of the break with a quick layup while a combination of Hagen Foley (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers Academy), Call, and Brantley trimmed the gap to 43-39 just over four minutes into the half. 
 
A few minutes later with Fisher up 49-43, Utica began to make its big splash. 
 
Starting with 11:10 to play, Brantley knocked down a triple on an assist from Griffin Barasa (Clearwater, FL/Calvary Christian) while Barasa nailed one of his own on the team's next trip down the court to even the score at 49 all with 10:50 to play. 
 
Fisher would, however, come back with a 7-0 run of its own to reclaim a moderate lead at 56-49. Over the final nine minutes of play, the Pioneer offense put up 23 points while limiting the Cardinals to just nine to go ahead and never look back. 
 
Over that span, Utica shot 10-for-13 from the floor and 3-for-4 from downtown with Brantley's seven points paving the way.  Bourgault and Morreale also added five each during the run while Call contributed four and Barasa a pair. 
 
As for Fisher, Utica held the home team to 1-of-8 shooting from the floor and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc over the final nine minutes of action to take full advantage of the open door for a comeback victory. 
 
Utica (18-3, 11-1 Empire 8) prepares for its final road game of the regular season on Saturday when the team travels to Keuka College for a 4 p.m. game against the Wolves.