PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College men's basketball had its three-game winning streak ended on Saturday as the Cardinals fell to visiting Alfred University, 104-82, in an Empire 8 tilt inside Manning and Napier Varsity Gymnasium on Bobby Wanzer Court.  With the loss, Fisher slipped to 16-8 overall and 11-4 in the conference standings while the Saxons remained atop the conference leaderboard at 20-4, 13-2, respectively.

The Cardinals honored the contributions of their senior class prior to the opening whistle as Dylan Harrington, Jordan Gilman, Ryan Henderson and Mark Scanlon were recognized for their dedication to the program over the last four seasons.

Fisher found itself in an early hole after the Saxons stormed out of the gates with a 10-2 run over the first three minutes of play.  After swapping baskets with Alfred on its ensuing possessions, Fisher climbed back in to contention with a 13-2 burst that featured five points from junior Sammy Robinson to give Fisher a 19-17 edge.

The lead would shift sides three more times over the next 2:36 before Alfred connected on back-to-back baskets to open up a 26-22 advantage.  The Cardinals kept it close, however, and would use a 7-2 run to turn a deficit into a two-point edge when Matt Asenjo kicked it out to Robinson who drilled an open 3-pointer to bring it to 33-31 with 4:16 remaining in the first half.

Trailing by one possession, Alfred would score 21 of the final 29 points of the half including two separate 8-0 runs to take a double-digit lead into the break, 52-41.

The Saxons carried their momentum over into the second frame and extended their cushion to 14 points with 2:30 gone by.  From there, Fisher would cut the gap to 10 points, but Alfred responded with nine unanswered points of its own to hold a 19-point lead, 68-49.

The Cardinals continued to battle down the stretch and would come to within 13 points, but time ran out on the comeback effort.

Robinson led the team with 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes while Asenjo finished with 14 points and four boards overall.  Henderson tallied 14 points and eight rebounds and now sits just nine points away from reaching 1,000 career points.  Harrington netted seven points off the bench and Brendan Trapper contributed seven points a team-leading nine rebounds. 

The Cardinals have one final tune-up before heading into next weekend's Empire 8 Championship when they heads to Houghton at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday to face the Highlanders in an Empire 8 clash.