PITTSFORD, NY – Despite outscoring the St. John Fisher Cardinals by eight points over the final 26 minutes of play, the Houghton Highlanders could not dig themselves out of an early 20-point deficit, falling on Friday afternoon, 81-69.
 
The Cardinals raced out to an early lead, opening with a dunk by Daniel Cook, and holding a 33-13 advantage with just over six minutes to play in the first half. 
 
Finally the Highlanders offense began to gain some traction, as they unleashed a 14-2 run over the ensuring four minutes, trimming the deficit to only eight points.
 
Fisher, however, would close the half with a pair of free throws and a three-point play by Cook to boost their lead back to 13 points at the break.
 
Early in the second half the Cardinals again looked poised to blow the game open, pushing their advantage to over 20 points in the opening minutes, and leading by 24 with 14:32 to play.
 
Houghton would continue to battle, slowly chipping away at the differential, but would eventually run out of time.
 
GAME VITALS
Score: Houghton – 69 | St. John Fisher – 81
Records: Houghton: 5-14 (4-8 Empire 8) | St. John Fisher: 14-6 (10-3 Empire 8)
Venue: Manning & Napier Varsity Gymnasium, St. John Fisher University | Attendance: 437

NOTABLE STATS
>> David Rosa posted a career-high 27 points, 16 of which he scored in the second half.  Rosa went 11-of-19 from the floor, while adding six rebounds and three blocked shots.
 
>> Esafe Taufahema and Luke Cole would each add 11 points apiece, while Tim Hutter added five points and career-highs in rebounds (6) and assists (7).
 
>> The Cardinals took advantage of a 23-to-16 disparity in turnovers, and also converted six more foul shots (8-for-10 compared to 14-for-23).
 
COACH'S CORNER
"That is the hardest 40 minutes of basketball I've seen from our crew this year and it came on the second day of a back-to-back against two of the E8's best.
 
"We got hurt by not matching up well in transition and we gave away 25 points on turnovers, but the effort and resiliency were there. I'm extremely proud of these guys, especially given the struggles we had early on.
 
"David Rosa gave us everything he had at both ends. However, some of the credit for his 27-point performance needs to go to Zach Fahey, who is becoming the point guard we've needed that will allow David to do more damage off the ball." – Head Coach Jeremy Bialek
 
UP NEXT
Houghton will return home this Tuesday, February 7 to host an Empire 8 matchup with the Elmira Soaring Eagles at 7:30pm.  Both teams still in the hunt for one of the remaining playoff spots.  Houghton won their previous meeting at Elmira, 86-82.