The St. John Fisher College men’s basketball team earned a key Empire 8 Conference victory on Tuesday night with a 71-65 decision over cross-town rival Rochester Institute of Technology.

 

With the win, the Cardinals improve to 13-8 overall, 9-3 in the Empire 8, while the Tigers slip to 12-10, 6-7.

 

Fisher enjoyed strong play from the starting five, who recorded all but eight of the 71 points.  Senior Justin Beigel (Colerain/Cincinnati, OH) led the way, recording a game-high 15 points, while Matt Newman (Campbell-Savona/Campbell), Isaiah Smalt (Campbell-Savona/Savona), and Chris Baltz (Vestal/Vestal) each tallied 13 points.  Forward Mark Bearden (Aquinas/Rochester) added nine points, and grabbed five rebounds for Fisher.

 

The Cardinals built up a six-point advantage at the 12:09 mark of the opening half, but the Tigers responded with emphatic 18-5 run over a five-minute span that gave them the lead at 26-19.  Fisher closed out the half with a 15-8 run that tied the game at 34 all.  The spurt was highlighted by a trio of assists from Newman, a pair of 3-pointers from Bearden, and some strong play in the post by Smalt.

 

In the second half, Fisher opened the scoring with a quick 7-0 run, and led by as many as eight points before R.I.T. began to chip away at the lead.  The host Tigers used a 12-4 run over nearly six minutes of game time to cut the Fisher lead to just two points with 2:35 remaining.  With just under one minute to play, the Tigers still trailed by two points, but a jumper from Beigel and two free throws from Baltz kept the Tigers at bay.