Pittsford, NY --- Optimystik Kinard (South Ozone Park, NY) poured in 19 of his game-best 22 points in the opening 20 minutes as host St. John Fisher shot a sizzling 73.1% in the first half, including 9-of-11 from 3-point land, en route to a 76-70 victory over WPI in a NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament first round contest on Friday evening.
The Cardinals (24-4) will meet Amherst Saturday at 7pm in the second round with a spot in the sectionals on the line. The Lord Jeffs were a 91-67 winner over Sage in the other first round contest played here Friday evening. WPI wraps up its season with a 21-6 mark.
The first half actually was a nip-and-tuck affair with the hosts holding a 22-19 advantage afterChris Rodgers (Franklin, MA) canned a pair of pair of free throws with 8:57 to go before intermission. Kinard then took over, scoring the next 10 Cardinal points to highlight a 13-1 spurt that saw St. John Fisher hold WPI without a field goal for nearly a five minute stretch. The burst allowed the homestanding Cardinals take a 49-28 lead into the locker room at the break.
WPI came out a different team in the second half. Sparked by a trio of 3-pointers by Clyde Niba(Atlanta, GA) as well as trifectas from Sean Doncaster (Medford, MA) and Zach Karalis (North Andover, MA), the Engineers opened the first four minutes of the second half with a 17-5 run to get the deficit down to single digits. After St. John Fisher had surged ahead by 14 points at 68-54 with eight minutes left, the Crimson and Gray registered 14 of the next 16 points to get within two at 70-68 with 2:02 remaining but a Charles McVay (Bennington, VT) 3-pointer for the Cardinals beat the shot clock and thwarted the WPI comeback hopes.
Kinard canned all six of his 3-point attempts as St. John Fisher finished the game shooting 13-of-17 (76.5%) from downtown against the nation's best 3-point percentage defense. Chaz Lott(Wynantskill, NY) and Tyler Hart (East Greenbush, NY) both added 15 points with Lott leading all players with 11 assists.
Niba and Obi Obiora (Brookline, MA) paced a balanced WPI attack with 12 points each, while Rogers tallied 11, Karalis chipped in with 10 and Sam Longwell (Acton, MA) and Doncaster added nine and eight respectively. With his first basket of the game, Longwell moved passed Tom Bartolomei into 4th on WPI's all-time scoring list. The All-America candidate ends his outstanding career with 1,422 points.