PITTSFORD, N.Y. – To end a regular season that has included plenty of frustrating, late losses, the St. John Fisher men's basketball team finished strong to claim its most satisfying triumph of the 2025-26 campaign on Tuesday night, a 65-59 victory over East Avenue rival Nazareth inside a heaving Manning & Napier Varsity Gym.

With the win, the Cardinals (12-13, 8-8 Empire 8 Conference) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Golden Flyers (18-7, 13-3 Empire 8 Conference), who would have secured the top seed for the E8 postseason tournament with a victory. Fisher has the No. 8 seed and will face No. 1-seeded Russell Sage at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Albany. 

Fisher featured a balanced scoring attack in front of the spirited home crowd on Tuesday, with four players reaching double figures. Sophomore forward/center Maximus Michalski led the way with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, marking his team-leading third double-double of the season. Junior guard Jonathan McCaffrey and freshman guard Mekhi Gidney each had 13 points, while senior guard Max Schneider finished with 12. 

Nazareth's Meritt Holly scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 17 rebounds. Jaylen Savage had 13 points, 11 of which came in the second half, while Solomon McFarlane and Tyler Putney chipped in 10 apiece. Luke Insley led all players with eight assists. 

How It Happened 

The Cardinals dictated the first half pretty much from the start, shooting a 55.5% overall (15-of-27) and 50% from three (5-of-10) while playing stifling defense, holding the Golden Flyers to 30.7% and 28.5%, respectively. Fisher led by as many as 13 points multiple times in the first 20 minutes. 

Schneider scored all 12 of his points in the opening frame, doing so while shooting 3-of-3 from 3-point range. Gidney had seven points and sent the Cardinals into the halftime break with all of the momentum, drilling a deep, contested triple as time expired to make it an 11-point game, 38-27. 

The Cardinals kept rolling early in the second half, as they outscored the Golden Flyers 12-6 over the first five minutes of play to push their advantage to a game-high 17 points, 50-33. McCaffrey had eight points and knocked down two triples in that stretch, while Gidney and Michalski chipped in a two-point basket apiece. 

As usual in this rivalry, though, the finish wasn't easy. 

After a timeout to settle things down, the Golden Flyers ripped off a quick 8-0 run, which included seven points from Savage, to bring their deficit down to nine, 50-41. Nazareth did just enough to keep the game within reach until it scraped together another run down the stretch, pulling within four with a 6-0 surge that took a little over two minutes. 

Starting another second-half disappointment in the face with their lead down to 60-56, the Cardinals delivered this time. Gidney allowed everyone to exhale on the Fisher side of the gym, making a contested mid-range jumper to put the Cardinals ahead 62-56 with 50 seconds left. From there, Fisher secured the victory at the free throw line, making 3-of-4 attempts in the final 30 seconds. 

Game Notes

• Michalski recorded his fourth collegiate double-double.

• Michalski has scored at least 10 points in 18 of the Cardinals' 25 contests this season. 

• Michalski also recorded four blocked shots and a pair of assists. 

• Sophomore guard Andrew Violante tallied a career-high five assists.

• McCaffrey also had nine rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. 

Up Next

The Cardinals face Russell Sage in the first round of the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament on Saturday.