The St. John Fisher College men’s basketball team advanced to the sectional semifinals of the NCAA Division III Championship tonight with a 66-58 win over Lebanon Valley College before a capacity-crowd at Fisher’s Manning-Napier Varsity Gymnasium.
With the win, Fisher improves to 28-0 and joins the Illinois’ men’s team as the two undefeated teams in college basketball. Lebanon Valley finishes its season at 20-7.
Fisher jumped to a 32-14 lead at intermission, as the Cardinals forced the visiting Flying Dutchmen to shoot just 16% (4-for-25) from the floor.
Lebanon Valley battled back and trimmed the Cardinals lead down to five on a three-point play from J.D. Byers with 8:32 left.
Fisher’s Sean O’Brien answered Byers’ basket with a 3-pointer on Fisher’s next possession and scored 11 of Fisher’s next 14 points, including two more 3-pointers over the next four-minutes.
Lebanon Valley cut a 10-point lead in the final minute down to four points with 31 seconds left, but O’Brien made two free throws with 24 seconds left to put the game out of reach.
O’Brien led Fisher with a career-high 28 points, including 18 in the second half. Senior Jeff Sidney added 10 points and 10 boards, while Nick Bennett, who covered Byers the entire game and forced him to shoot 6-for-21 from the floor, finished with nine points and seven boards.
Byers led Lebanon Valley with 18 points, while Jimmy Curran added 15 points, including 13 in the second half.
Fisher will now face SUNY Potsdam, who defeated Salem State 74-73, on Friday at a time and site to be determined.
# # #