The St. John Fisher College men's basketball program improved to 8-1 in its last nine games, as the Cardinals held on for a 69-63 win over visiting Elmira College in an Empire 8 Conference matchup on Friday night.

With the win, Fisher improves to 11-5 overall and 5-1 in the Empire 8, while Elmira falls to 5-10, 1-4.

Fisher took the lead for good just 16 seconds into the game, as junior Stefan Bock connected on a four-point-play from the right-corner.

The Cardinals led 35-23 late in the first half, but Elmira hit back-to-back 3-pointers – a 30-footer as the horn sounded and another three on the opening possession of the second half to make it 35-29.   Fisher responded with a 10-2 run over the next five minute to push its lead to 14 points, its largest margin of the night.

The Soaring Eagles, however, stuck around, thanks to 14-3 run, and trimmed Fisher's lead down to three points on three different occasions in the final five minutes, but each time, Fisher was able to answer from the charity stripe.

The Cardinals shot 17-of-24 from the foul line in the second half with Chaz Lott scoring nine of his 15 points at the line, including six in the final 3:15.  Lott did miss two free throws with 37 seconds left, but got his own rebound and made a layup two seconds later to put the Cardinals ahead, 66-58.

Freshman Keegan Ryan scored a career-high 21 points and snagged 10 rebounds to record his fourth double-double of the year.  Adam Ambielli chipped in with 11 points, nine of which came in the second half.

The victory marks Fisher's 23rd consecutive win over Elmira.  The Cardinals have not suffered a loss at the hands of the Soaring Eagles since the 2001-02 season.

Fisher returns to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will host Alfred University.  It is the last of six straight home games.