ELMIRA, N.Y. – Ryan Henderson scored a career-high 20 points as the St. John Fisher College men's basketball team moved to 9-1 in the Empire 8 standings with a 70-59 win over Elmira College on Tuesday night inside Speidel Gymnasium.  Fisher, which moved to 14-5 overall with the win, has now won nine of its last 10 games.  Elmira slipped to 3-15 overall and 1-8 in the conference.

Henderson set the bar after shooting 7-for-12 from the field including 6-for-9 from behind the arc.  The sophomore also added two rebounds and an assist in the win.  Keegan Ryan had 20 points of his own along with eight rebounds as the senior converted 10-of-14 attempts from the free throw line.  Tyler English finished with nine points and six rebounds and Alex Sausville had seven points and six assists.

The Cardinals were 21-for-39 (.538) from the floor and drained eight 3-pointers in all (8-for-15).

Neither team could gain a clear advantage as the first half got underway.  The Cardinals and Soaring Eagles swapped the lead three times over the first five minutes of play before five consecutive points including an old-fashioned 3-point play by Ryan staked Fisher to a 13-9 lead.  After exchanging field goals, Fisher went on an 8-0 run highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers from Sausville and Henderson to build a 10-point lead, 23-13, with 12:54 remaining in the half.

Elmira chipped away with a modest 5-0 run of its own to make it 23-18 and would climb back into the thick of things as the Cardinals went nearly nine minutes in-between field goals before English penetrated and scored in the paint to give Fisher a 31-23 advantage.  Fisher pushed its lead to nine points with 2:54 left to go before the break on another triple from Henderson, but the Soaring Eagles closed out the half on a 5-0 run to bring the score to 34-30 in Fisher's favor at halftime.

Henderson continued to have the hot hand in the second half as the Cazenovia native scored 14 straight points for the Cardinals including four shots from downtown to give Fisher a 58-48 lead with 9:30 left to play.

The Cardinals opened up their largest lead of the game with an 8-2 run late in the second half to hold a 15-point edge, 68-53, en route to their second consecutive win.

The Cardinals return home at 4 p.m. on Saturday to square off with Utica in an Empire 8 bout.