HOUGHTON, NY—The St. John Fisher Cardinals capitalized on a 7-0 run in the waning minutes of the game to break open a neck-and-neck race, eventually putting away the Houghton Highlanders, 98-87, on Thursday night.
 
Reigning three-time Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year Daniel Cook scored 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds in the winning effort.
 
Trailing for most of the first half, the Highlanders rode a 12-0 run to their first lead of the game with 7:04 remaining in the first half, capped by a three-pointer from Trey Flatt.
 
Houghton extended their lead to nine points, following a pair of threes from Preston Thomas and a steal and fastbreak dunk by Jajuan Preaster.
 
But the Cardinals cut the lead to three and remained close throughout the opening minutes of the second half. 
 
While Houghton led by as many as five points at multiple times throughout the second half, they could not pull away, and the Cardinals eventually took the lead back with 11 minutes left on the clock.
 
The two teams traded leads over the next five minutes, before David Rosa put Houghton back up by one on a soaring alley-oop from Flatt.
 
Moments later, though, Fisher would reel off their definitive run, pulling away for good in the final minutes.
 
GAME VITALS
Score: Houghton – 87 |St. John Fisher – 98
Records: Houghton: 6-16 (4-9 Empire 8) | St. John Fisher: 16-8 (12-3 Empire 8)
Venue: Dix Family Court, The Nielsen Center, Houghton University | Attendance: 237

NOTABLE STATS
>> While the Highlanders claimed the battle of the turnovers, 16-20, the Cardinals dominated the boards, 57-26, thanks in large part to Cook's 18 boards, and Connor Williams, who grabbed 14 of his own.
 
>> Thomas scored a game-high 29 points, knocking down seven threes, while Flatt added 16 points, five assists and four steals.
 
>> Preaster scored 18, pulled down a team-best nine rebounds, and dished out four assists.  He has reached double-digit points in 17 of the 19 games in which he has played this season.  With tonight's performance he now has 989 career points.
 
COACH'S CORNER
"We did a lot of things well tonight. Ironically, despite giving up 98 points, I thought we defended well in the halfcourt, but I'm not sure what team can overcome that kind of rebounding deficit. Second chance points were 21-2. That's easily the difference. To be a good tourney team, we'll need to improve our rebounding.
 
"A lot of credit to Fisher for crashing when their shots weren't falling. Still, there are a lot of positives we can take with us moving forward.
 
"Preston Thomas is a deadly shooter, but I thought his defense was solid tonight too.
 
"Trey Flatt is getting into tournament mode. His decision making is improving. His defense is pure harassment. His experience will help us down the stretch." – Head Coach Jeremy Bialek
 
UP NEXT
The Highlanders return to the Nielsen Center on Saturday, when they will host the Nazareth University Golden Flyers at 4:00 p.m.