Empire 8

[gobombers15]

Sean O'Brien hits a 19-footer with 1.7 seconds remaining. Fisher leads, 67-65.

Go for the win, McVean. I bet they draw up a play for Snyder or Zeinfeld.

[gobombers15]

Springer misses a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Fisher wins in OT, 67-65. What a game.

Hell of an effort from RIT and Fisher battled through.

[the bird man]

Wow...what a great game. RIT put a scare into Fisher for sure,
Now lets go IC...

[gobombers15]

I'm heading out now, guys. I'm just rooting for a good game tonight and I hope the best team wins.

It seems like people should WANT to play Fisher in the 1st round of the E8 tourney. Ithaca took them to the final minute last season and RIT had them on the ropes in OT.

[gobombers15]

One more thing: Ray Bryant is 27 years old?!?!?! Why was this never brought up before? I knew he looked like he was 30 but I didn't really think he was close to that age. If Utica needs an older player a few years from now, I'm available. Just sayin because they have Bryant and used to have Old Man Tim Troy.

[bamm]

Hell of a game. I haven't seen a better game in the E8 tourney's history (yes, it's only a few years old).  Thing that impressed me tonight was the Tiger's defense.  There were very, very few easy jumpers on either end.  Tim Bacon was close to unstoppable in the post for the Tigers though.  Might have earned himself All-E8 honors of some sort.

Fisher went up by 8 twice in the second half -- both times it looked like it might be it for the Tigers -- but they roared back.

O'Brien really needed to hit that shot, if he hadn't and RIT had found a way to win he would have been the goat.  He must have had at least 7 or 8 turnovers, getting ripped again and again by Martin and Roy.  Offensive rebounding really saved the Cardinals tonight, as their shooters were not getting good shots. 

Bittersweet feeling, seeing such a good game in which the Tigers go down.  But a fun two hours.

[bamm]

One more thing, last season I ripped Fisher's AD on this board.  But tonight I want to commend him, when the game was really intense at the end of regulation and the Fisher student section was getting ready to burst -- he went down there and stood between them and court and calmed things down.

[bamm]

GB15 - since you're speaking of him I'll give you a fantastic Ray Bryant tidbit.  With about 2 minutes left in regulation of the RIT/Fisher game, Ray came out and stood at the entrance of the tunnel.  He had a boombox on his shoulder with a long extension cord that ran back out of sight.  I couldn't hear the music, I was on the other side of the court, but he stood there for a few seconds rocking out before heading back.  Just one of those things that cracks you up.

[superman57]

Great Game, absolutly great game.  RIT played just about as good as they could, but everybody in the stands knew what that last play was going to be and O'Brien did what he needed to do.  Good Job guys and lets win tommorow

[Javaman]

Great Game RIT/Fisher, it's interesting when Fisher can't make their shots from the perimeter. I thought Fisher lacks an inside game. It could cost them later in the NCAA Tournament, just like last year. This was the first time I watched Utica play, fast team. Surprised they lost to Fisher twice. I really think tom. E8 Championship will be a very close game. Fisher better improve their shooting or it could be just like tonight.

Cortland, I can't believe it. SUNYIT is a well improved team, but come on! Down 12 at the half and lose. Certainly doesn't look like a number 1 team in the SUNYAC. I'm not impressed by the way they finsihed the year. Will they get in? I'm not so sure. I'm guessing they get in and host a first round game. It will be interesting IF Cortland plays @ Fisher in the second round.

[notjoshreed]

Fisher RIT was a good game but I have a little different perspective on it.  Fisher couldn't put the game away when it need to.  If they lost I thought a couple things might come back to haunt Fisher and Biegel.  First a slam that he attempted and that went soaring out of bounds and then following up with an inept inbound outlet pass right to a defender 2 feet in front of him that put it in for 2 more.
Also I was driven nuts by O'Brien holding the ball for last shot down to 8 seconds before he made any attempt to head to the basket leaving no options but himself.  Glad to see he redeemed himself in ot.
Towards the end of the second half the bald ref made a bad call on stuff by Bennett that almost turned the tide to RIT.  I have trouble with that ref as invariably his ego gets the best of him and he makes a call most games that make the game about him and not the players.
I was afraid that OT was going to bite Fisher in the ass as they had several players in foul trouble.  McSweeney fouled out and Biegel and McGee had 4 each.  I was worried about a second overtime with Fisher running out of warm bodies.  Kornecker did not go real deep and did not use Smalt at all in the 4rth quarter and did not used Fenyn at all. 

Interested in how bad Utica beat IC. I watched the first half and was impressed on how fast a game it was as both teams were working hard.  Not sure about tomorrow but think Utica would have beat up on Fisher tonight how they were playing.  Perhaps it will be a slower and different game as it must be tough for old man Bryant to play two hard games in back to back nights.  He had a great full court bounce pass on a fast break tonight that was not handled by his teammate but was a thing of beauty anyways.   

Often posters on this board have had Fisher in the upper echelons of the league and all the other teams distantly behind them in second place.  I wish them well tomorrow but I see them as the underdog tomorrow even at home.

Good luck to Fisher tomorrow

[clearconceit]

Geeze, if it wasn't for a few Utica runs.... Ithaca would have won.  NO SHOT BABY.  We drilled them tonight.  But I realize that they are a mediocre team at best anyway.

As for tomorrow this is what everybody wanted, it is clearly the 2 best teams in the league - and it just may be the two best teams in the region.

Should be fun.  All I know is there were alot of Fisher/Rochester people walking out after the game saying that they can't figure out how Fisher beat Utica 2 times this season.  I agree, but the bottom line is they have.

Go Pioneers!  As happy as I would be to win - I have to say the thrill of pounding Ithaca and listening to GB talk about how "I hope it is a good game" blah blah blah ... you down play it but I know you were hoping and expected to be better.  But keep on prefacing everything with the pre-game downplaying quotes.

No matter, we put you out of your misery and we will do you the favor again next year.


Let's go!!!!!!

[lileyes]

I think "old man" Ray Bryant can handle playing back to back games seeing as he has done it successfully the entire season.  Looking forward to the game tomorrow, hoping for a UC victory!

[gobombers15]

Number of Hand Grenades Consumed: 5

Number of Breasts Stared At: 60 (approximate)

Amount GB15 truly cares that IC lost tonight: 0

We figured we should let Utica be better than us in one sport, anyways. This guy is real pumped to see Jon Whetstone never play another game in a Bombers uniform. He's worthless. I'll be sad to see Bellis go, it looks like he was the only player who could do anything tonight. Clear, you know it's true, what did I say Ithaca had to do to have a shot in this game? I said they had to stop Cichon and Lucas. Combined points for those two: 39. That was the main difference, among other things.

I really don't understand how people can go to undergrad in this city. It's honestly ridiculous. To give you an idea of how some of the local Uptown bars look at 4:15am, think of APub in Rochester around 11pm when The Taint is playing (I hate those guys). There was a LINE to get into a bar at 4:15am. That's bananas.

Alright, time for bed. Hopefully Utica can hang tough for at least a half tomorrow. I remember last year when everyone was saying "Ithaca took Fisher to the wire, RIT handled Utica, and Fisher will have trouble beating RIT for a fourth time." Then they beat RIT by about 80. I don't want to be bored tomorrow so I honestly hope it's a good game.

[fisheralum03]

good morning everybody!!, well we are here, Championship Saturday and the 2 best teams in the conference made it. Well, not without a few dramatic moments last night from Manning & Napier Varsity Gym on Bobby Wanzer Court between Fisher and RIT. What a great game that was. I have to give RIT all the credit in the world. They played the perfect game to beat Fisher. They slowed it down, penetrated and they were hitting there outside shots the majority of the night.  I feel RIT did get shafted at the end of regulation. They should have had 1.1 sec on the clock instead of .5 I thought that shot was going in. The OT was great. Who else would you rather have the ball in his hand with the game on the line than Sean O'Brien. That shot he made was perfect. I thought the clock ran a little slow at the end though. There was 1.7 sec left when RIT called Timeout. Drew Martin threw a baseball pass to half court, can't remember who passed it to Springer (possibly Bacon)(only guessing), then he dribbled and then shot the ball. I had no idea you could do all that in 1.7 sec and still get the ball off on time. Luckily for Fisher, the shot missed and they got out with the win. As it relates to Utica and Ithaca. I expectedly UC to dominate IC I knew IC would make a run but UC was that much better. Now Tonight, Fisher and Utica. This came could be as good as a couple of years ago when Fisher held on for a 62-59 win. A game that low tonight would benefit UC over Fisher though. I expect tonights game to be in the 70's Good luck to both teams.