The St. John Fisher College men's basketball program went on a 9-0 run over the final 3:51 of the first half to take a 30-27 lead at the break and held on for a 63-56 win over host Nazareth College on Thursday night before a capacity-crowd at Kidera Gymnasium.

With the win, Fisher improves to 10-3 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8 Conference, while Nazareth falls to 8-6, 4-1.

Fisher earned the win, despite its poorest shooting performance of the season.  The Cardinals shot just 22-of-61 (36.1%) from the floor for the game, including 3-of-19 from 3-point range.  In the second half, Fisher went just 10-of-24 (41.7%) from the foul line.

It was a back-and-forth game early on, but Nazareth finally took control in the final 10 minutes of the first half, pushing its leads to six points on three different occasions.  With the Golden Flyers up 27-21 with just under four minutes left, Fisher rallied and took the lead for good on a 3-pointer from Tyler Hart with 1:57 remaining, highlighting a 9-0 run to put the Cardinals up 30-27 at the half.

Fisher led by as many as nine points in the second period, but could never get a double-digit lead.  Nazareth pulled to within four with 29 seconds left, but Fisher regained control and sealed the win.

Keegan Ryan led the Cardinals with 21 points and 11 rebounds, marking his 22nd career double-double.

Hart tallied 13 points, while Tyler English added eight points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Zach Ottaway finished with a career-high 12 rebounds and finished with seven points, while Alex Sausville grabbed seven boards.

Fisher will play its fifth game in an eight-day span on Saturday, as the Cardinals host Ithaca College at 2 p.m. on Saturday.