ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point deficit with five minutes left to force overtime, then outscored Bard College 9-5 in the extra session to pull out a 58-53 Liberty League victory on Friday night. RPI improved to 11-13 overall and 5-10 in the Liberty League; Bard finished its season at 9-16, 6-10.
Bard led 23-20 at half, but RPI's deficit was 10 as the clock reached the halfway point of the second half. Bard led 46-35 with 4:54 left in the game. That's when everything changed.
Tom Horvat hit a three-pointer, then a layup to cut it to 46-40 with 3:13 left. A layup
Jonathan Luster, and another back-door cut by Horvat completed a 9-0 run, and RPI was down just two with 1:53 to go.
The Engineers were down three as the clock showed under a minute left, when Horvat hit a contested three-pointer to tie with 48 seconds left. After a Bard turnover, Luster's attempt to win it at the buzzer with a long three missed.
Tyler Gendron hit a layup, was fouled, then made the foul shot to start overtime, and the Raptors never had the lead again. Gendron scored seven of RPI's nine points in OT.
Horvat led RPI with 18 points and six steals. Gendron scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime.
Bard got 15 points from DeVahnte Mosley and 14 from Armando Dunn.
RPI will close out the 2015-16 season against Vassar on Sunday.