Box Score Box Score |
Game Highlights
TROY, N.Y. - Senior
Tom Horvat scored 28 points and two of his teammates had double-doubles as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team held off Ithaca College 82-79 in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. The Engineers improve to 10-5 overall and 5-3 in the conference, while the Bombers fall to 8-7 and 3-4.
Horvat earned game-high honors by connecting on 10 of 18 shots, including 4 of 10 from three point range and 4 of 4 from the free throw line. He also had eight rebounds - all defensive - with a steal. Nineteen of his points and five rebounds came in the first 20 minutes.
The guard's effort was nearly not enough as Ithaca battled back until the final buzzer. Down by nine at halftime (43-34), the Bombers pulled even at 8:38 of the second half (59-59), forcing the Engineers to call a timeout. Horvat put RPI ahead by three on the subsequent possession when he took a feed from
Marcus Giese and made a layup while being fouled. After Ithaca's Peter Ezema made a jumper, RPI's
Patrick Mahoney scored from inside and outside to give the Engineers a six point lead, 67-61. Mahoney then assisted on a Horvat basket for an eight point margin (69-61).
A Giese basket at the rim with 3:12 left made it 77-67 for the home team, but Ithaca scored the next eight points, including a three pointer from Bryan Karl and a long-range shot from the top of the key by Riley Thompson for a 77-75 deficit with a minute to play. Giese made a pair of free throws for a four point lead with 40 seconds remaining and
Dom Black hit one from the strip for an 80-75 bulge with 14.9 ticks left. Thompson countered with a pair of free throws and Sebastian Aldrete scored on a layup with 10.2 to go to make it 80-79.
Following an Ithaca timeout, the Bombers stole the ball on the inbounds pass, but an attempt at a go-ahead basket off a scramble was rebounded by Rensselaer's
Kevin Davis, leading to a Mahoney dunk with only a second remaining.
Mahoney finished with 13 points, while Geise had 11 and 11 rebounds with three assists and two blocked shots.
Andreas Kontopidis also had a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
On the other end, the Bombers saw Aldrete (25 points) and Thompson (24) combine for 49 points. Alderete also had eight rebounds. Skylar Sinon scored 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting for Ithaca, which faces Skidmore College on Saturday at 3pm.
RPI is back home on Saturday when it faces Union College at 4pm.
