Box Score | RPI Athletics on Instagram

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT men's basketball team (10-8, 6-3 Liberty League) outscored the Engineers 44-32 in the second half to beat Rensselaer (9-8, 3-5 Liberty League) 65-57 in Liberty League action from Clark Gymnasium on Friday evening.
 
Chase Almond led Rensselaer with 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Nate Kane scored 10 points, while Asa Barnhill scored 11 points off the bench for the Engineers, who shot 39.3 percent from the floor. Rensselaer held a slight 32-31 rebounding edge. 

RIT shot 46.9 percent from the floor on 23-of-49 shooting. The Tigers went 7-of-17 from three-point land, and went 12-of-14 from the foul line. AJ Horde led RIT with 24 points, including 20 in the second half. He finished with four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Kamron Davis added 14 points and nine rebounds.

"Rensselaer did a good job keeping us out of the lane in the first half," said RIT head coach Bob McVean. "I thought the guys made good adjustments in the second half and started finding the open man."

RPI led throughout the first half, including by as many as seven points on a three pointer by Barnhill with 9:24 to play. A Davis layup with 5:52 to play cut the Rensselaer lead to 19-16.

Marcus Giese gave RPI a 25-19 lead on a layup off an assist from Kane with 1:01 to play in the opening half. Troy Pierre-Louis drained two free throws with 37 seconds to play, making it 25-21 Rensselaer at halftime.

RIT shot 37.5 percent in the first half on 9-of-24 shooting. Davis led RIT with six points, while Barnhill led Rensselaer with seven points.

The Tigers came to life from the floor in the second half, shooting 56 percent on 14-of-25 shooting. Horde led the second-half charge, tallying 20 points in the half. His three pointer with 13:27 to play gave the Tigers the lead for good.

Another three from Horde with 5:52 to play gave the Tigers their largest lead of the second half at 54-44. A pair of Davis free throws with: 56 seconds to play made 63-52 Tigers. Kane drained a late three for RPI, but it was not enought as RIT held on for the win.