Sophomore Seth Thomsen (South New Berlin/Norwich) blocked a game-winning shot attempt by Adam Ambielli, as the SUNY Oneonta men's basketball team held on to defeat St. John Fisher, 67-65, in non-conference action today at home.  The win for Oneonta (3-4) was its second straight while the loss for the Cardinals drops them to 3-3 overall.

The Red Dragons overcame an early seven-point deficit in the second half.  Trailing 42-35 at the 16:41 mark of the second half, Oneonta scored eight quick points to cut the Cardinals lead to one point.  Junior Zach Mager (New City/Clarkstown South) scored six of 16, second half points and finished with a game high 22 points.

The Cardinals pushed its lead back to five points at 48-43 before Oneonta put together a 7-0 run to take a 50-48 lead on a basket by sophomore Jackson Zuvic (Cold Spring/Haldane) at the 11-minute mark.  Zuvic finished the game with 12 points and a team high seven rebounds.

The game was tied twice over the next four minutes before Oneonta took the lead for good on a lay-up by Mager.  The Red Dragons stretched its lead to seven points on a pair of free throws by Mager at 3:53.  Freshman Mikey McElroy (Saratoga Springs/Saratoga Springs) drilled a big three-pointer at 1:55 to give Oneonta a 65-60 lead.

Ambielli came right back and hit a three-pointer to get St. John Fisher back to within two points with 1:33 remaining.  Senior Dan Lee (Ballston Lake/Shenendehowa) hit a pair of free throws with 1:09 remaining to give Oneonta a 67-63 lead.

A lay-up by Chaz Lott made the score 67-65 with 49 seconds left.  St. John Fisher then controlled the rebound of a Zuvic miss where they called a timeout with 14 seconds left to set up their final shot.

Freshman Keegan Ryan led the Cardinals with 15 points and a game high 10 rebounds.

St. John Fisher held a 34-32 lead at halftime, as both teams shot exceptionally well from the field.  Both squads hit 52 percent in the opening half that included 62 (5-8) percent from long range for the Red Dragons and 85 (6-7) percent for the Cardinals from three-point range.

There were three ties and five lead changes in the first half.  Oneonta's largest lead was 29-22 with just over three minutes to go in the half before the Cardinals charged back to end the half with a 12-3 run.

Oneonta will have two weeks off before its next game on Dec. 30 at Averett College beginning at 7pm.

Newspaper Box Score
SUNY ONEONTA 67, ST. JOHN FISHER 65

ST. JOHN FISHER (3-3)
Keegan Ryan 7-16 1-1 15; Stefan Bock 6-13 0-1 14; Tyler Hart 3-8 2-2 11; Adam Ambielli 3-8 0-1 9; Chaz Lott 4-7 1-1 9; Charles McVay 2-6 0-0 5; Pete Notaro 1-5 0-0 2; Optimystik Kinard 0-0 0-0 0; Garrett Sisson 0-0 0-0 0; Ryan Dalton 0-0 0-0 0; Matt Cooney 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 4-6 65.

SUNY ONEONTA (3-4)
MAGER, Zach 8-14 4-5 22; ZUVIC, Jackson 5-13 0-0 12; McELROY, Mikey 4-9 0-0 9; DIGNAN, Jack 3-6 0-0 8; LEE, Dan 2-5 2-2 7; WILLIAMS, Kareem 3-5 0-0 6; BRINK, Larry 1-2 1-2 3; THOMSEN, Seth 0-0 0-0 0; MASSARONI, Grant 0-1 0-0 0; SEGARRA, Nick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 7-9 67.

3-point goals--St. John Fisher 9-17 (Tyler Hart 3-4; Adam Ambielli 3-5; Stefan Bock 2-5; Charles McVay 1-1; Matt Cooney 0-1; Chaz Lott 0-1), SUNY Oneonta 8-16 (DIGNAN, Jack 2-3; ZUVIC, Jackson 2-4; MAGER, Zach 2-3; LEE, Dan 1-3; McELROY, Mikey 1-2; MASSARONI, Grant 0-1).
Fouled out--St. John Fisher-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
Rebounds--St. John Fisher 32 (Keegan Ryan 10), SUNY Oneonta 36 (ZUVIC, Jackson 7).
Assists--St. John Fisher 12 (Chaz Lott 7), SUNY Oneonta 15 (LEE, Dan 5).
Total fouls--St. John Fisher 13, SUNY Oneonta 13.
Technical fouls--St. John Fisher-None, SUNY Oneonta-None.
A-307