WPI Men's Basketball Drops a Tight One at St. John Fisher
Jim Marois
St. John Fisher 74, WPI 71
Pittsford, NY --- The host St. John Fisher College men's basketball team defeated Worcester Polytechnic Institute 74-71 on Saturday night in the second game of the Courtyard-Penfield Classic.
Fisher freshman Ozell Franklin (Henrietta, NY) made two free throws with 1:08 left to give the Cardinals the lead for good at 70-69. After a WPI turnover on the ensuing possession, Justin Beigel (Cincinnati, OH) made a layup for Fisher (4-4) with 15 seconds left, pushing its lead to three points.
Adam Lirette scored with 8.8 seconds left for WPI (6-3) to make it 72-71, but Matt Newman (Campbell, NY) sealed the win with two free throws with 7.0 seconds left. WPI's Jim Marois (Worcester, MA)attempted a 3-pointer that would have tied the game, but the shot grazed off the rim as the horn sounded.
Franklin tied his career-high with 18 points, while Beigel added 16 points and eight rebounds. Chris Baltz scored 15 points, while Isaiah Smalt (Savona, NY) finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots in his first game of the season after breaking his right hand in the preseason. Senior guard Mike McKeever (Philadelphia, NY) did not score, but dished out nine assists.
For WPI (6-3), Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA) tallied 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Marois added 22 points.
It was a wild game to say the least, as the two teams each committed 27 fouls, while the Cardinals turned the ball over 28 times. WPI shot 57.1% from the floor in the second half, after going 9-for-41 (22.0%) in the first half. The Engineers were just 9-for-20 from the foul line in the second half.
WPI led 13-7 early on, but Fisher went on a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to take the lead. The Cardinals also went on an 11-3 run over the final 2:08 of the first half and led 41-26 at intermission.
The Engineers, however, refused to go away and using a full-court press trimmed away at the lead and tied the game by the midway point of the second half. WPI took its first lead of the second half with 8:25 left on a layup from Coleman, making it 60-58.
Fisher will return to action at 3 p.m. on Sunday and will host Cazenovia College, while WPI will face Alfred University at 1 p.m.
Release Courtesy St. John Fisher Sports Information