The St. John Fisher College men's basketball team advanced to the round of the 32 in the NCAA Division III Championship, as the Cardinals held on for a 76-70 win over Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Friday night at Fisher's Manning & Napier Varsity Gym.

With the win, Fisher improves to 24-4 overall and will host Amherst College (21-7) at 7 p.m. on Saturday with the winner advancing to the Sweet 16.  The Lord Jeffs cruised to a 91-67 win over Sage College in Friday's other first round game.

Fisher shot an amazing 13-of-17 from 3-point range (76.5%) against the Engineers, who entered the game with the nation's best 3-point percentage defense.  Senior Optimystik Kinard led the Cardinals with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including a perfect 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.

Fisher led 22-19 with just under eight minutes to go, but took a double-digit lead over the next five minutes.  Kinard scored 13 of his team's next 16 points, as the Cardinals went on a 16-3 run to take a 38-22 lead.   The Engineers cut Fisher's lead down to 13 points, but the Cardinals went on a 8-0 run over the final 66 seconds with Tyler Hart scoring all eight during the spurt to put Fisher up 49-28 at the half.
 
Fisher shot a 9-of-11 (81.8%) from 3-point range in the first half, and was 19-of-26 (73.1%) overall from the floor.  Kinard was 7-of-8 from the floor in the first half, including a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc, while tallying 19 in the first 20 minutes.

The Engineers also got things going from the perimeter in the second half, banging five 3s in the first four minutes of the second half, cut Fisher's lead down to single digits at 54-45.

Fisher led 58-44 with just over eight minutes left, but WPI went on an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to pull within three.

The Engineers came within two points a 70-68 with just over two minutes left on a yet another 3-pointer  (WPI made eight in the second half), but Fisher would answer with a 3 of its own, as senior Charles McVay swished one from the top of the key with the shot-clock running down on the ensuing possession.   Hart, who finished with 15 points, sealed the game at the foul line, going 3-for-4 from the charity stripe.

For Fisher, Chaz Lott registered 15 points and 11 assists, marking his second-straight double-double.

Senior Stefan Bock tallied a seven points and team-high five steals, while Adam Ambielli was 2-for-2 from 3-point range and finished with six points.

Keegan Ryan led the Cardinals with nine rebounds.