ELMIRA, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's basketball team travels to Rochester, New York, tonight to take on the Cardinals of St. John Fisher College in the penultimate game of the 2016-17 season. The Empire 8 Conference bout is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Soaring Eagles were handed an 84-66 defeat at the hands of Alfred University in the regular-season home finale last night at Speidel Gymnasium. EC held a pair of early leads with 3-pointers, including a 5-2 cushion off of a Justin Ruback '18 trey and a 9-8 advantage on a Hayden Harkins '18 3-ball. However, the Saxons went on to net the next six points to grab the lead for good. The Elmira offense was stymied by a full-court press that forced the Soaring Eagles to turn the ball over 27 times. Those 27 giveaways led to 29 points off of turnovers scored by Alfred, and negated a season-high 50.0 field goal percentage registered by the EC men. Justin Porrett '19 led the Soaring Eagles with 16 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, and one steal.

STRONG SHOOTING
Despite the loss and the turnovers, the Soaring Eagles pieced together one of their best shooting performances of the season last night against Alfred. EC finished with 21 makes on 42 shots, equaling a season-high 50.0 field goal percentage. That figure is the highest for the Purple and Gold since registering a rate of 50.8 in the final game of the 2015-16 season, which was also played against the Saxons.

FISHER AT A GLANCE
Ranked No. 4 in the East Region in the latest edition of the NCAA Division III Regional Rankings, the Cardinals (17-5 overall) sit atop the Empire 8 Conference standings with a 12-1 league record. Fisher's only in-conference loss came on January 26th against Nazareth College, but the Cardinals successfully avenged that defeat in a double-overtime thriller on their home hardwood last Saturday. Tyler English erupted for 18 points in the overtime sessions to guide the Cards past Naz, 103-93. While ranking fourth in scoring offense (79.1 ppg), the Cardinals pace the league with a 47.2 field goal percentage, led by All-American center Keegan Ryan. Ryan's 58.7 field goal percentage leads all conference qualifiers; he's also third in rebounds (9.1) and fourth in points (18.0) per game.

LOOKING AHEAD
Elmira will end the 2016-17 regular season on Saturday, February 15th, when the Soaring Eagles take on Utica College in Utica, New York. Tip off for the finale is slated for 4:00 p.m.