Alfred University scored with 0.7 seconds left to defeat host St. John Fisher College 97-95 in a pivotal Empire 8 Conference men's basketball matchup on Saturday at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.

With the win, Alfred improves to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the Empire 8, while Fisher, who had won eight of its last nine, drops to 11-6, 5-2.
Alfred, who led 48-42 at the break, led by as many as 12 points at 72-60 with 14:53 left , but Fisher chipped away at the lead and used a 17-7 run to cut the margin to two at 79-77 with 6:35 left.

Fisher cut Alfred's lead down to one point on three different occasions, including a 3-pointer from Matt Cooney with 1:34, but was never able to tie the game up until the closing seconds.  With 7.5 seconds left and the Cardinals down four, Fisher's Adam Ambielli drained a 3-pointer and was fouled.  Following two timeouts, the junior calmly stepped to the line and tied the game up at 95s, completing the four-point-play.

Alfred's Tim Pacheco, however took the inbounds-pass in his own backcourt and drove up the left side, spun towards the basket and knocked down a five-foot pull-up jumper with 0.7 seconds left to give Alfred the win.   

The first half featured eight ties and seven lead changes.  Fisher led 14-10 with 12:16 left after a 3-pointer from Charles McVay. Fisher led 21-19 with eight minutes left in the half, but the Saxons took the lead on an 8-0 spurt over a 90-second span.

For Fisher, Chaz Lott led his squad with 19 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals.  Tyler Hart finished with 15, while Ambielli scored 14 points. Both players each made three 3-pointers.

Stefan Bock collected 13 points and four steals, while Cooney finished with nine points.

After playing six straight home games, the Cardinals will finally hit the road, but they won't have to travel too far.   Fisher returns to action at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Nazareth College, just over one mile away on East Avenue.