The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team used an 18-3 run over an eight-minute span during the first and second halves, to push its winning streak to nine games, as the Cardinals earned a 73-59 win over visiting Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday night in an Empire 8 conference matchup.
 
With the win, Fisher improves to 11-2 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8, good for first place in the conference standings. 
 
Stevens (5-7, 2-2), who shot a blistering 72% from the floor over the opening 15 minutes, enjoyed its biggest lead of the day at 33-27 with 5:10 remaining in the opening period.
 
Fisher, however, used a 12-3 run over the final five minutes of the first half to take a 39-36 lead at the break and used a 6-0 spurt to start the second half and never trailed again.
 
The Cardinals used a very balanced scoring attack to lead the way with five players finishing in double figures.  Senior Optimystik Kinard scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the first half and also added a team-high four steals.    Classmates Adam Ambielli and Stefan Bock scored 12 and 10, respectively.
 
Junior Chaz Lott totaled 13 points and five assists, while sophomore Keegan Ryan finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
 
Fisher shot 51% from the floor for the game (52.2% in the first half and 50.0% in the second), while Stevens finished the game at 47.1% (61.5% in the first and 32.0% in the second).
 
Fisher will return to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday, hosting Hartwick College.  The Hawks (8-4 overall, 3-0 Empire 8) are the defending Empire 8 Conference champions and are coming off a 83-56 win at Nazareth College on Friday.