HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 12, 2013) – Sophomore forward Patrick Sabatino (Westfield, N.J.) scored a career-high 26 points to help propel the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team to a 74-68 win over St. John Fisher College Saturday evening at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. The win pushed Stevens to 4-0 in the Empire 8 and 11-1 overall.

Sabatino was all over the court through each and every one of his 32 minutes, playing strong defense, grabbing eight rebounds, tallying four blocked shots as well as a pair of steals for good measure. Sabatino was 10-for-13 from the field, 5-for-5 at the line and even nailed a clutch three-pointer from the top of the key to put Stevens ahead 54-43 with five minutes on the clock.

Stevens came out of the gate strong, twice building a seven-point lead in the first 10 minutes, but Fisher used a 10-2 run over a span of five minutes to turn a 16-9 deficit into 19-18 lead with 6:49 left in the first. Sophomore Optimystik Kinard (South Ozone Park, N.Y.) punctuated the spurt with a three-point play for the guests.

The Ducks came right back, attacking the basket on their next five possessions and drawing fouls that turned into seven points and a six-point lead (25-19). After the two teams traded buckets over the final three minutes, the Ducks took an eight-point lead into the intermission when junior guard Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.) found Sabatino for the duo's third alley-oop in the last three games on a perfectly executed inbounds play with 1.8 seconds on the clock.

Stevens held the Cardinals (9-6, 4-2 Empire 8) scoreless for the first 4:55 of the second half, but could not create as much separation as it would have liked, holding a 40-27 lead following a triple from senior guard Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.Y.). That three-pointer came after a Sabatino block at the top of the key on the opening Cardinal possession of the half. The carom bounced to Thompson who rewarded Sabatino for running the floor with a perfect lead pass that led to an emphatic left-handed slam.

St. John Fisher was able to hang around and got right back into the game behind two three-pointers from junior guard Thad Wier (East Aurora, N.Y.), eventually trimming the Stevens lead to five (40-35) with 13:50 to play.

Junior guard Andrew Meszaros (Phoenixville, Pa.) responded with back-to-back jumpers to slow the Cardinal momentum and push the Stevens advantage back to nine with 11 minutes on the clock. The Stevens lead stayed between seven and 11 until the 3:36 mark when senior center Jason Norsen (Hamburg, N.Y.) notched a three-point play to cut the Stevens edge to six (54-48).

With the guests threatening, Sabatino answered with a turnaround baseline jumper, and following a stop, senior guard Russ Thompson (West Orange, N.J.) burried a big-time three to get the lead back to double-digits.

The Ducks stayed comfortably ahead until a four-point play from Wier brought Fisher back within six at the 31-second mark, but Stevens did enough at the line down the stretch to get the key win. Freshman guard Evan Klimchak (Readington, N.J.) hit all four of his attempts and Thompson went 5-for-6 in the final 36 seconds.

The Ducks shot 45.1 percent (23-for-51) from the field and 24-for-29 (82.8 percent) from the line but were just 4-for-17 from beyond the arc. Stevens ended with a 37-34 edge on the glass, had seven blocked shots and five steals.

Thompson finished with 13 points and three rebounds, while Jones had 14 points. Skrelja tallied seven points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal, while sophomore forward Kenny Gan (Hillsborough, N.J.) had six rebound and two blocked shots.

Wier and freshman guard Chaz Lott (Wynantskill, N.Y.) each had a team-high 15 for the Cardinals, with Lott getting eight rebounds and three assists. Norsen had 13 points and six rebounds.

Fisher shot 39.7 percent (25-for-63) from the field, 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) from three and 10-for-12 at the line.

The Ducks will return to action on Tuesday evening when they host the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 7 p.m. All the action will be webcast live at www.Empire8.TV.

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