Owings Mills, MD (November 20, 2015) – St. John Fisher College opened the second-half with a 10-2 run taking a 12-point lead and the DeSales University men's basketball team was unable to claw its way back falling to the Cardinals, 74-64, in the opening round of the Hoopsville National Invitational Classic hosted by Stevenson University on Friday afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs (2-1 overall) struggled from both the charity stripe and beyond the arc in the loss shooting 5-for-22 (22.7%) from three-point land and 9-for-21 (42.9%) from the free throw line.  Fisher (2-0) hit nine three-pointers (37.5%) and shot 46.8 percent from the field for the game.
 
Four players reached double digits for DeSales including sophomore Brandon Bridy with a strong game totaling 13 points and six rebounds.  Junior Kuity Slanger finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, while sophomore Aaron Burton and junior Brian Laird each tallied 11 points in the loss.
 
The Cardinals were led by Keegan Ryan with a double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Tyler English and Alex Sausville each had 14 points.  Zach Ottaway was also big off the Fisher bench with 12 points on four three-pointers.
 
The first-half was a tight game in which no team led by more than six points.  After SJF scored the first six points of the game, DSU scored five straight points later in the half, all from sophomore Connor Jones, to take a 16-15 lead with 12:20 left to play in the opening stanza.
 
The Cardinals led by two (31-29) with 2:22 left before scoring four of the final six points to take a 35-31 lead into the locker rooms.
 
After trading baskets to open the second-half SJF scored seven straight points opening up a 45-33 lead with just over 16 minutes left to play.
 
The Bulldogs battled back and had several possession to get the deficit to single digits but were never able to capitalize.  DSU did pull within eight with 1:47 to go and had four straight free throws to get within four points with just under a minute left but missed all four freebies as Fisher sealed the win from the line hitting 4-for-4 over the final 36 seconds to provide the final margin.
 
DeSales is right back to action tomorrow when they take on Salisbury University on day two of the Hoopsville National Invitational Classic beginning at 2:00 pm.