The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team led throughout much of the game, but was unable to hold off the Hartwick College Hawks who came away with the win, 77-65, Saturday at the Lambros Center.

With the loss, Fisher dips to 5-5 in conference play (11-9 overall), while the Hawks improve to 8-2 (13-7).

The Cardinals got off to a hot start, outscoring the home team 15-3 in the game's opening minutes including back-to-back threes by Optimystik Kinard and Tyler Hart.

The Hawks would eventually settle into a rhythm, scoring eight unanswered points including back-to-back three pointers of their own to cut Fisher's lead to 17-13 with 11:35 remaining in the opening half.

The Cardinals responded with another run, this time scoring 10 unanswered points to hold a 14-point advantage, 27-13. Senior Matt Cooney had the hot hand during the spurt, scoring six points for Fisher.

Fisher, who lead by as many as 15 points, saw its margin slimmed to nine point after a foul with only one second left in the first half allowed the Hawks to bury three free-throws. As the halftime horn sounded, Fisher went into the locker room holding a 40-31 lead.

After swapping points to begin the second half, Hartwick made its move. The Hawks orchestrated an 12-0 run that lasted nearly three minutes of play to give the home team its first lead of the contest before Chaz Lott could end Fisher's scoreless drought with jumper at 13:09 to make it 51-51.

The Cardinals would take a five-point lead on the strength of consecutive baskets by Adam Ambielli and Keegan Ryan, but the lead would be short-lived as the Hawks poured in seven unanswered points to take a 66-61 lead forcing the Cardinals to call a timeout.

As the game wore on, The Cardinals were unable to come up with stops on the defensive end as Hartwick closed out the game on 19-4 run to escape with the win.

Ryan, the reigning Empire 8 Rookie of the Week, led the way for Fisher, recording 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Lott went 4-of-6 for 12 points. Hart scored nine in the loss and Kinard tallied eight points.

Fisher will continue with its conference schedule at 6 p.m. on Tuesday when the Cardinals travel to Utica, N.Y. to take on the Pioneers. Fisher defeated Utica College on January 18, 83-65.