STAFF WRITER
DAN KAPUSCINSKI

The men’s basketball team saw their 10-game win streak collapse on Jan. 12, in the semifinal round of the JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament.  The Cardinals allowed a 26-point halftime deficit grow to an 82-53 loss at the hands of the University of Rochester Yellowjackets at Voller Gymnasium.

The Cardinals offense shot just 35 percent from the field in the opening half.  Senior Dan Mueller says such a slow start for his team is not acceptable.

“We really have to learn from this and put it behind us,” Mueller said.  “We didn’t come out and compete from the start, and you can’t do that against a team like U of R.”

Dan McSweeney scored Fisher’s first four points in the contest, giving the Cardinals their only lead of the game, 4-3, just 1:14 into the opening half.  From that point on it was all Yellowjackets, who were looking to avenge a 69-67 overtime loss to St. John Fisher on Dec. 7.

Mike Chmielowiec led the Yellowjackets attack, shooting five-for-six from the field for a total of 16 points in the first half.  The U of R went on a 29-8 run over a 10:00 minute span to lead 32-12 after a Max Kaplan three pointer.  By the end of the half, Rochester’s 56 percent shooting proved to be too much, and Fisher found themselves down 47-21 at the break.

Not a single player on the Cardinals bench scored more than two points in the opening half.

The second half proved to be much of the same, but this time it was the Yellowjackets big men getting into the act.  Eric Snider and Dan Milbrand each tallied six points in the half, but more importantly nine of the Yellowjackets 12 suited players contributed to the score.

The Cardinals improved their field scoring in the second frame, but shot a dismal 28 percent from the charity stripe.  By the end of the game Fisher had shot just 40 percent from the field, and 48 percent from the free throw line.

When the final buzzer sounded Justin Beigel lead the team with nine points, and four rebounds.  Fisher, who was the two-time defending champion of the JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament, would have to face Brockport State in the 3rd place contest the following night.

Brockport and St. John Fisher faced off in the Cardinals first game of the season, with the Golden Eagles coming out on top 97-86.  Their second meeting would be another high scoring affair, but the tables were turned.

Mueller says after the disappointing loss the night before, his team was ready to play.
“We really wanted to come out hard from the tip against Brockport and play hard for 40 minutes,” Mueller said.  “They got us the first game of the season, so we knew we had to play pretty good to win.”

The Cardinals did just what they wanted, jumping to a five-point lead at the intermission, 44-39.  However, the Golden Eagles weren’t ready to go down without a fight.

Brockport opened the second half of play with a 14-5 run, taking the lead by as many as seven points, 55-48, 5:09 into the second.  The Cardinals would bounce back with a run of their own.

With a 17-4 stretch, McSweeney gave Fisher the lead for good with a lay-in with 11:52 left in the game.  The Cardinals turned their shooting around completely from the Yellowjackets contest the night before.

The team shot 50 percent from the field, from three-point range, and from the stripe in the second half.  Brockport kept the game close in the waning stages, but the Cardinals prevailed 85-81.

Beigel says Fisher did everything right in the stretch.

“We came up with big plays when we needed to and made our free throws,” Beigel said.  “It was great to avenge the loss from earlier in the season, and bounce back from the night before against U of R.”

Mueller scored a career-high 30-points in the Brockport game, shooting 10-for-15 from the field.  His efforts were enough to earn his first-team honors on the JPMorgan Chase All-Tournament team.

“Being named to the first team is a great honor for me,” Mueller said.  “It is always an honor to receive an award like this.  I’ve been working extremely hard to be a leader on this team, and help us to win every night.”

With the Chase Tournament behind Fisher, the 11-2 Cardinals would hit the road and turn their attention to Empire 8 play on Jan. 19-20.

Hartwick College was first on the slate, with the Cardinals making quick work of their opponent.  The Cardinals held a 10-point lead at the break, on their way to a convincing 65-48 victory.

Four players ended in double figures including freshman Chris Baltz who scored a career-high 20 points, 18 of which came from behind the three-point line.  McSweeney, Mueller, and junior Isaiah Smalt joined Baltz at the top of the stat sheet.

The team’s Jan. 20 meeting with Utica College would prove to be the true test.  It would be a night of firsts, but unfortunately the Cardinals were on the losing end.

For the first time in the last 10 meetings between these two teams Utica, the preseason favorite to win the Empire 8 title, came out on top in double overtime, 62-54.

It was also head coach Rob Kornaker’s first overtime loss while at the helm of the Cardinals.  Kornaker’s overtime record now stands at 9-1 lifetime.

The game was certainly exciting with 21 lead changes, and neither team holding a lead of more than three-points during the second half.  However, once again the Cardinals shooting woes reemerged.

Beigel went just one-for-eight from the field, and Mueller two-for-twelve.  Freshman Matt Newman did excel scoring a career-high 15 points, including all six of Fisher’s double overtime points. 

Another sub 40 percent shooting afternoon (35 percent), drops the Cardinals record to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the Empire 8.

The Cardinals return to action this weekend back on the Wanzer Court with a Friday night meeting with Elmira College, and an always exiting afternoon clash with Ithaca College on Saturday.

“I’m excited about the rest of the season,” Beigel said.  “We are capable of winning out if we play the way we are capable of.  It is going to be a tough challenge, but we are up for it.”

Mueller too is optimistic, but fully understands that the Empire 8 is building in strength.

“We know now what the conference games are going to be like,” Mueller said.  “Everyone is going to give us their best game when we play them; all the teams in the conference this year are very competitive.”