Box Score | Game Highlights

TROY, N.Y. - Junior guard Tom Horvat scored 30 points, including the 1000th of his career, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team came back from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat Skidmore College, 75-70, in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. The Engineers improve to 10-8 overall and 5-6 in the conference, while the Thoroughbreds are now 9-8 and 5-6.

After falling behind 7-0 and 14-2, the Engineers chipped away behind Horvat, who had five straight points to get RPI to within seven points (14-7). Skidmore came back and built leads of 11 points (21-10) midway through the first and 15 points (28-13) with 6:35 to play. The margin was 14 points after a Jack Byrne three-pointer, but Horvat hit a triple of his own - the 999th, 1000th and 1001st points of his career - with two seconds left in the first half to make it a 33-22 deficit. 

Click HERE for a list of the Rensselaer men's basketball 1,000 point scorers.

Horvat had 11 first half points, while Skidmore's Byrne had 12 and Chase Ta scored 11 in the first 30 minutes. The Thoroughbreds shot 56.5% (13 of 23) from the field, while RPI managed to make just 7 of 33 (21.2%) attempts.

An Edvinas Rupkus basket and a pair of free throws from Byrne opened the second half, giving Skidmore a 15-point lead. Rensselaer got to within 10 points (37-27) on an Andreas Kontopidis three-pointer with 15 minutes left and pulled to within six a minute later. A pair of free throws and a triple from Horvat with 13 minutes remaining got RPI within one point (40-39) and he scored again less than a minute later for a 41-40 edge - RPI's first lead of the day.

Marcus Jackson scored on a layup to give the visitors the lead back (42-41), but freshman Patrick Mahoney scored on two drives to the net and sophomore Mitchel Wayand hit a three-pointer from the corner and the Engineers led 48-42 with 10 minutes to play. Mahoney scored on another layup before Rupkus hit from long-range, but Mahoney once again answered as he scored all eight of his points in that stretch.

The Thoroughbreds continued to battle and got to within one point, 52-51, on a Ta layup with 7:14 to play, but Horvat made another three - one of six he had in the game. Rupkus made it a two-point game (57-55) with 3:39 to go, but Kontopidis made a corner three, Horvat hit two free throws and then a triple for a 65-55 lead with 2:28 left. Senior Asa Barnhill closed out the Thoroughbreds, first with a three-pointer to make it an eight-point game (69-61) with just over a minute left and then hitting four free throws. A three-pointer from Ta with a second remaining made it a five-point game.

Horvat, who is the 14th Rensselaer men's basketball player to reach 1000 career points, also had four assists and two steals to go with his 30 points. Kontopidis finished with 13 and nine rebounds and Barnhill had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. RPI registered a 38-32 edge in rebounds, including 17-7 on the offensive glass.

Rupkus and Ta both had 19 points, while Byrne finished with 14 for Skidmore, which made 42.3% of its second half shots, but allowed the Engineers to score on 51.6% of its attempts.

The Engineers are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Hobart College for a Liberty League contest (8pm). Skidmore returns home on Friday for its first game in Saratoga Springs since January 6. The Thoroughbreds host league foe Ithaca College (8pm).