St. John Fisher, which was knocked out of the tournament’s second round last year at home by Hamilton, improved to 22-6 overall and will play at the University of Rochester at 8 p.m. on March 6. The Cardinals made 9 of 16 three-point attempts in the first half in running out to a 49-41 halftime lead and made 54.5 percent of their shots from beyond the arc for the game.
Matt Morley and Nick Bennett led Fisher with 17 points apiece. Bennett also had a team-high eight rebounds. Sean O’Brien added 15 points and seven assists. Raymie Auman came off the bench to score 13 points and hand out seven assists. Jeff Sidney chipped in 12 points. The Cardinals shot 51.5 percent from the field, including 15-for-26 (58 percent) in the second half.
Continental head coach Tom Murphy coached the last game of his 34-year Hamilton career. Murphy won 602 games at Hamilton (19-8 overall), which is the fourth most in NCAA Division III history. Joe Smith led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Tsakane Ngobeni notched 22 points and pulled down 10 boards. Tim Welchons added 17 points and four assists. The Continentals’ bench was outscored 25-3.
Fisher jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, but Hamilton came back and took its first lead at 13-11 on a Welchons three-pointer with 15:03 left. The Cardinals responded with eight straight points for a 19-13 advantage with 13:25 remaining. Fisher pushed the lead to 26-17 only to watch the Continentals go on a 13-0 run and fall behind 30-26 with 8:20 left. The Cardinals then scored the next seven points – all by Bennett – to take the lead for good at 33-30 with 6:16 remaining. Hamilton clawed back to within three points three times in the second half -- the last time coming with nine ticks left, but never drew even.