The St. John Fisher College men's basketball program rallied in the second half and posted a 60-50 win over visiting Alfred University on Tuesday night in a rematch of last year's Empire 8 Conference Championship.

With the win, Fisher improves to 9-3 overall and 3-0 in the Empire 8 Conference, while the Saxons fall to 6-7, 2-2.

Junior Zach Ottaway led the Cardinals with 15 points on five 3-pointers in the first eight minutes of the second half, while Chaz Lott tallied 14 points and six assists.  Tyler Farrell chipped in with 10 points, Tyler English and Keegan Ryan added seven points.   Ryan also led Fisher with eight rebounds, while Alex Sausville snagged seven boards.
 
Fisher struggled early on, shooting just 1-for-10 from the floor over the first nine minutes.   The Cardinals, who never led in the first half, pulled to within two points at 15-13 with five minutes left in the opening period, but Alfred went on a 9-2 run to take a 24-15 lead and led 26-19 at the half.

The Cardinals shot just 29.2% (7-of-24) from the floor in the first half, including 1-of-11 from 3-point range and committed 10 turnovers.

Ottaway and the Cardinals got hot from the perimeter early in the second half.  Ottaway drained 3-pointers on Fisher's first two possessions and Lott knocked down a 3 to make it 30-28 two minutes into the half.

Fisher trailed 37-32 but went on a 14-2 run to take its first lead of the day and pushed its edge to 46-39 with 10:59 left.   Ottaway started the run hitting 3-pointers on three straight possessions and Tyler Farrell capped the spurt with the final five points. 

Fisher took nearly its largest lead of the day at 50-41 with 8:13 left, but Alfred went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to make it a two-point game at 52-50 with 5:10 left.
 
With three minutes left and the shot-clock winding down, Tyler Hart hit his lone field goal of the day - a deep 3-pointer from the right side to make it a two-possession game as the Fisher defense kept the Saxons off the board for the remainder of the game.

Fisher will return to action at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Nazareth College.  It will be Fisher's fourth game in a six-day span.