The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team took down host Elmira College 78-68 on Saturday in a conference game. The Cardinals improve to 2-0 in Empire 8 and 9-2 overall, while the Soaring Eagles fall to 1-1 and 3-6, respectively.

With the win, Cardinals are off to their best start since the 2009-10 season when they also went 9-2 in first 11 games.

Keegan Ryan put Fisher on the board with a layup. Fisher pulled away with traditional three-point plays from Chaz Lott and Zach Ottaway to make it an 18-9 lead with 11:05 left in the first half.

The Cardinals maintained the lead for the majority of the first half, but not without a fight from the Soaring Eagles. Elmira was hot from 3-point land and that was enough to keep up with Fisher. Despite those 3-pointers, the Cardinals kept a seven-point lead with 4:17 left in the half. At halftime, Elmira closed in on Fisher and made it a 35-31 game.

Elmira's Justin Henderson hit a 3-pointer to put the Soaring Eagles within one point, 37-36. Elmira kept netting those threes, making 10 total in the game, but couldn't close in on Fisher.

Lott shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field with 4-for-5 from the line to lead the Cardinals with 16 points. The point guard also dished out seven assists.

Two other Cardinals – Ryan and Ottaway – recorded double-digit figures. Ryan finished with 15 points and Ottaway with a season-high 10 points.

Charles McVay shot a perfect 2-for-2 from 3-point land to add eight points.

The Cardinals visit Ithaca College for an 8 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday for another conference contest.