The St. John Fisher College men's basketball program won the Empire 8 Conference regular-season title on Friday, as the Cardinals picked up an 81-72 win over visiting Hartwick College.
 
With the win, Fisher improves to 19-5 overall and 13-2 in the Empire 8. The Cardinals will be the No. 1 seed for next weekend's Empire 8 Championship and will host the four-team tournament. Game times and pairings will be announced on Saturday. The Empire 8 Championship winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.
 
Fisher won the Empire 8 title on its own court last year and has won 26 straight at Bobby Wanzer Court, including 11 straight wins at home this season.
 
Sophomore Tyler English scored a career-high 22 points in the win, while senior Tyler Hart tallied 13 points and 10 assists, marking his first career double-double. English also led the Cardinals with seven boards. Keegan Ryan chipped in with 14 points, while Alex Sausville totaled nine points, six rebounds and three assists. Freshman Ryan Henderson came off the bench and chipped in with eight points.
 
The two teams traded buckets over the first four minutes with Hartwick's Matt Wilson tying the game up at 6-6 with 15:42 left in the opening half.
 
The Cardinals would score the next 17 points however over the next 4:20. Tyler Hart started the run with a 3-pointer from the right wing, while Tyler English scored eight straight points late in the spurt.
 
Following a Fisher timeout with just over eight minutes left, the Cardinals would score straight points on  back-to-back alley-oops from Hart to English and Henderson, pushing the Fisher lead to 16 at 27-11 with 7:56 left.
 
Fisher led 40-28 at the half, as the Cardinals committed just one turnover in the opening 20 minutes, while forcing the Hawks to shoot 1-for-13 from 3-point range.
 
The Cardinals would push their lead to as many as 21 points with 10:45 left on a 3-pointer from Tyler Farrell. Hartwick (16-8, 11-4), hung tough and trimmed the Fisher-lead down to eight points on two different occasions in the final moments.
 
Fisher, who shot 60% from the floor in the second half, did not buckle and sealed the game at the foul line, shooting 13-for-16 (81.3%) for the game.
 
Fisher returns to action at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will host Stevens Institute of Technology.  Prior to the start of the game, the College will recognize its graduating seniors: Chaz Lott and Hart.