ITHACA, N.Y. -- The men's basketball team (20-6) lost to St. John Fisher (15-11), 88-75, in the semifinal round of the Empire 8 Championship Tournament Friday at Ben Light Gymnasium. The Bombers, who were second in the final published NCAA East Region ranking, await Monday's announcement of the 18 at-large teams picked for the NCAA playoffs.

Ithaca, the only Empire 8 team to see action in all eight conference tournaments since its inception, placed four in double figures for the 24th time this season, but shot just 44.6 percent to the Cardinals' 53.2 percent in the loss.

Sophomore guard Sean Rossi (Sparta/Sparta, N.J.) flirted with his career-high point total of 24 by finishing with a team-high 22. He added a game-best 10 assists to notch his ninth double-double of the season and the only one of the game.

Senior guard Chris Cruz-Rivas (West Genesee/Syracuse) chanced a double-double of his own, but fell just shy with 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Freshman guard Miles Grier (Druid Hills/Lilburn, Ga.) tallied 12 points and junior guard Jordan Marcus (Solomon Schechter/West Orange, N.J.) 11 as he moved into 10th-place all-time at Ithaca with 1,195 points.

St. John Fisher snapped Ithaca's five-game winning streak and improved its own to three with the victory. Foul trouble and a quiet night on the boards riddled the Bombers' hopes of a comeback as St. John Fisher claimed the lead for good at the 12:38 mark of the first frame. Ithaca has not been held below 80 points since a 73-68 victory over Stevens on Jan. 21.

Back-to-back three-pointers from the fingertips of Marcus and Cruz-Rivas opened play in commanding fashion. Ithaca maintained the six-point spread with a 9-3 lead at 17:44, but the Cardinals chipped away at their deficit, outscoring Ithaca, 10-5, over the next five minutes to secure the lead indefinitely. St. John Fisher twice led by as many as 11 points in the first frame and took a 43-35 lead to the locker room at the break.

The Cardinals improved their lead to a double-figure gap four minutes into the second stint and held it until Grier and Rossi combined for six consecutive to break within eight, 74-66, at the five-minute mark. Eight unanswered Cardinal points erased the Bombers' chance at a comeback as the visiting squad went on to take an 85-68 lead with 2:31 lingering in the game.

Ithaca tallied seven of the final 10 points but time expired in St. John Fisher's favor, 88-75. The fourth-seeded Cardinals will travel to third-seeded Hartwick on Sunday to battle for the Empire 8 Tournament crown.

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