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Pittsford, NY -- The Elmira College men's basketball team (5-10, 1-4 E8) rallied to get within one possession of St. John Fisher College (11-5, 5-1 E8) with under four minutes to play, but was unable to complete the comeback as the men fell 69-63. Chris Cassidy '14 led four Soaring Eagles in double figures, pouring in 15 points in 22 minutes off the bench.

The Purple and Gold, coming off an emotional, last-second loss to Hamilton College on Tuesday, got off to a slow start in the first half as the Cardinals scored the game's first eight points. EC was able to rebound a bit to make it a 15-10 game a few minutes later, but that would be as close as Elmira would get in the first half as St. John Fisher stretched their lead out to 14 points towards the end of the half. The Soaring Eagles did score the final five points of the half, however, to head into the locker rooms trailing 35-26.

EC continued to trail in the second half as the Cardinals would match their largest lead of the contest, 14 points, on three different occasions, the last of which came with 10:51 remaining in the game. From there, Elmira would step it up on both ends of the floor as the men tried to get back into the game. The Soaring Eagles slowly chipped away at the Fisher lead, bringing it all the way down to three, 57-54, after a pair of free throws from Neil Randolph '15. The Purple and Gold kept the game within a couple possessions from there on out, but were unable to complete the comeback as they fell 69-63.

Derrick Vogel '14 and Randolph came in behind Cassidy with 12 points apiece and Josh Keys '14 chipped in 11 points while knocking down three more three-pointers. Keys is now 17 made three-pointers from tying the Elmira College all-time record for three-pointers made in a career.

The men's basketball team will return home on Tuesday, January 28th to kick off their six-game homestand. The Soaring Eagles will square-off with Ithaca College in EC's annual Gold Rush game at 6:00 p.m. in Speidel Gymnasium.