News Release

UTICA, Ny- — Jack Lighthall (Adirondack/Boonville) scored eight of his 12 points in overtime as the Utica College men’s basketball team defeated visiting St. John Fisher College 62-54 in double overtime Saturday in Empire 8 Conference action.

UC improved to 12-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play, while Fisher falls to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

The Pioneers had lost seven straight contests to St. John fisher coming into tonight’s game. The last time UC beat Fisher was on February 6, 2004 when UC won 81-70.

The first half was a defensive battle which Fisher led for the first 13 minutes. UC took its first lead of the game with 6:20 left in the first half when Brian Collier (Norwich/Norwich) knocked down one of his game-high three 3-pointers and UC led 15-14. Sophomore point guard Doug Herring (Poughkeepsie/Poughkeepsie) followed Collier with a 3-pointer of his own to give UC a three point lead.

Senior center Dan McSweeney (Marcellus/Marcellus) scored with 22 second remaining in the half to tie the game at 22-22 going into the locker rooms. McSweeney scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards on the night for the Cardinals.

The second half featured nine lead changes and the one consistent element proved to be the outstanding defense on both ends of the floor. Sophomore forward James McClendon (Our Lady of Lourdes/Poughkeepsie) converted on a three point play with 10:17 left in the second half and UC took a 40-38 lead. McClendon scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds on the night.

Senior All-American Ray Bryant (Manhattan/Utica) hit a pull up jumper with 1:20 left on the clock to give UC a 47-46 lead. Bryant was fouled and hit 1-of-2 free throws the next time down the court and UC led by two with 38 seconds remaining.

Justin Beigel (Colerain/Cincinnati, OH) hit two free-throws with 16 seconds left to tie the game up and send it to overtime.

The Pioneers trailed by two when Herring missed a jumper with five seconds remaining in the first overtime but Lighthall tipped in the rebound to tie the game up at 52-52, forcing double overtime.

UC outscored Fisher 10-2 in the second overtime to seal the victory.
Freshman point guard Matt Neumann (Campbell-Savona/Campbell) scored all six of Fisher’s overtime points and tallied a team-high 15 points on the evening. Dan Mueller (Waterloo/Waterloo) tallied six points for Fisher, while Beigel grabbed eight rebounds and scored five points.

Bryant grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and scored 12 points, while Herring totaled a game-high 16 points on the night. Dennis Munch (West Babylon/West Babylon) scored seven points off the bench for UC.

UC returns to action Tuesday night against visiting Oswego St. at 8 p.m. Fisher travels to Alfred University Saturday for an Empire 8 contest scheduled to tip-off at 8 p.m.

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