Box Score
Rochester, NY --- The Brooklyn College men’s basketball team (22-7) was defeated by the St. John Fisher Cardinals (23-5) by a score of 60-56 in the NCAA Division III National Tournament First Round game tonight in Rochester, NY on the campus of St. John Fisher.
The Bulldogs led 29-28 at the end of the first half. Brooklyn was able to maintain the slim lead by forcing the Cardinals into 13 turnovers in the half, including nine steals. St. John Fisher put their size advantage to good use, gathering 10 more rebounds than the Bulldogs in the period. The highly-touted Cardinal defense held the Bulldogs to shooting just 31% from the floor.
Rich Jean-Baptiste (St. John's Prep / Queens, NY) led the Bulldogs in scoring in the half with six points, but was only able to play nine minutes after picking up his second foul early. The contingent of
Amil Jon (South Shore / Bay Shore, NY),
Daniel Nisbett (Petrides / Staten Island, NY), and
Darnell Cudjoe (Murray Bergtraum / Brooklyn, NY) added four points a piece. Cudjoe also led the team in rebounding with five in the half. For the Cardinals, Jordan Koch (East Rochester / East Rochester, NY) netted 11 points in the opening stanza, leading the team, while shooting 50% from the field. Matt Newman (Campbell-Savona / Campbell, NY) dropped in seven points and gathered six rebounds.
St. John Fisher opened the second half red hot, outscoring Brooklyn 11-4 in the first five minutes to make the score 39-33. Jean-Baptiste slowed the run by hitting a deep three and Nisbett quickly followed with a steal and a pass to John for a fast break lay-up, dropping the Cardinal lead to one. The teams would trade baskets to a tie at the eight minute mark, 45-45. The game would continue to go back-and-forth, with Brooklyn able to develop a five point lead. St. John Fisher was able to hit two three pointers on back-to-back possessions, giving the Cardinals a one point lead. An old-fashioned three point play by Koch would give St. John Fisher a 58-54 advantage with 1:54 to play.
"We thought we had a lot of momentum with a few minutes left in the game," said Brooklyn Head Coach Steve Podias. "But, you have to give them credit, they hit those two big threes and stole the momentum back from us."
With :57 left to play, Nisbett drew a foul and promptly hit both of his free throws, cutting the Bulldog deficit to just two. At the :21 mark, a missed three point attempt by Connor Henderson (Canandaigua Academy / Canandaigua, NY) gave Brooklyn a chance, but the Cardinals would grab the offensive rebound and were able to run five seconds off the clock before the Bulldogs could foul, giving Newman a chance to seal the victory with two free throw attempts. He hit both, and the Bulldogs were unable to score again, making the final being 60-56 in favor of St. John Fisher.
The Cardinals held Brooklyn to their lowest scoring output on the season, and 27 points below their season average of 83.0 points per game.
For the game, Jean-Baptiste led Brooklyn with 14 points and added six rebounds. He also had a pair of blocks and three steals to fill in his stat line. Nisbett was the only other Bulldog who scored in double-figures, going for 13 points and snatching four of the team's 12 steals on the night. John added nine points and five caroms.
Of his seniors, Coach Podias said, "I am very proud of our seniors, I wish we could have extended their college careers for at least another game, but they played their hearts out and competed to the very end."
Koch led all scorers with 22 on the night and he grabbed 10 rebounds as well. Matt Newman and Michael Wopperer (St. Joseph's / East Amherst, NY) also scored in double figures, netting 14 and 10 points respectively.
The Cardinals will go on to face Brandeis University, who had won their earlier matchup against St. Lawrence University, tomorrow night at 7:00 pm at Bobby Wanzer Court on the campus of St. John Fisher.