The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team rallied for an 88-82 overtime-win over visiting Nazareth College on Saturday afternoon before a sold-out crowd at Fisher's Bobby Wanzer Court.

With the win, Fisher improves to 15-5 overall and 9-2 in the Empire 8, while the Golden Flyers fall to 13-7, 9-2.  Both of Nazareth's losses in the Empire 8 have come to Fisher.

Keegan Ryan finished with a career-high 28 points, including 20 in the first half.  He also led his team with 15 rebounds, marking his 27^th career double-double. 

Sophomore Alex Sausville tallied a career-high 23 points, while Tyler Hart scored 12 of his 16 points in the final eight minutes of the game. Hart also led the Cardinals with five assists.    

It was a back-and-forth game early on, with five lead-changes and four ties over the first five seven minutes.

Nazareth took a 16-13 lead with 12:58 remaining on a layup from Maurice Mills, but Fisher took the lead on an 8-0 run, with Ryan scoring the final six points during the spurt.

Nazareth tied the game back up at 21s, but Fisher went on a 15-4 run to take its biggest lead of the day at 36-25 with 4:43 remaining in the opening period and eventually led 43-37 at the break.

The Cardinals would take another 11-point lead on one of Sausville's five 3-pointers on the day to make it 52-41 with just over 16 minutes left.  

Nazareth, however, battled back. Fisher led 60-52 with 9:26 remaining, but Nazareth went on a 15-3 run and took its first lead of the half, thanks to five straight points from Brendan Wind to put the Golden Flyers up 67-63 with six minutes left.

Fisher regained the lead at 68-67 on a 3-pointer from Hart with 3:34 left, but Nazareth answered right with a 3-pointer from Nick Nadeau with 3:12 remaining to put the Golden Flyers up 70-68.

Nazareth led 74-71 with 35.3 seconds left, but Fisher tied the game on a traditional three-point-play from Hart to make it 74-74 with 19 seconds left.

After Nazareth couldn't convert at the end of regulation, Fisher took the lead for good on the opening
possession of overtime on a 3-pointer from Sausville. 

Nazareth hung tough and stayed within two points at 82-80 with 1:32 left.
  
Hart, however, delivered the dagger on Fisher's next possession. 

With the shot clock about to expire, the senior hit a fade-away jumper from the left-elbow to put the Cardinals up 84-80 with 35 seconds left.  Ford answered for Nazareth on its next possession, but Sausville sealed the win with four made free throws in the final 16 seconds.

Tyler Farrrell added eight points, four assists and three steals for Fisher. Freshman Daniel Morales also tallied three steals and six rebounds, while classmate Ryan Henderson scored five of his eight points in the first half.

The Cardinals return to action at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Utica College.