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TROY, N.Y. - Senior guard Tom Horvat scored 30 points and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team scored 17 straight points at the start of the second half on its way to an 80-67 win over Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in a Liberty League game at East Campus Arena. The Engineers improve to 7-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference, while the Tigers are now 3-8 and 0-4.

Horvat reached a season-high for points on 10 of 17 shooting from the floor, including 6 of 10 from three-point range, and 4 of 5 from the free throw line. He had 16 points in the first half and 14 in the second and now has 1,357 in his career, which is only one point from fourth all-time in school history. Horvat added three rebounds, an assist and two steals in 30 minutes.

Following a first half in which both teams shot over 50 percent - RIT made 51.9% (14 of 27) of his attempts, including 7 of 12 three-pointers (58.3%), while RPI was 13 of 25 (52%) overall and 5 of 12 (41.7%) from three-point range - the Tigers pulled to within one point (38-37) on a layup from Charles Okehie just 21 seconds into the second half. RPI countered emphatically with a 17-0 run, led by senior Marcus Giese, who scored the first six points of the sequence. Patrick Mahoney then made a three-pointer and Andreas Kontopidis scored on a layup for a 49-37 lead with 15:42 to play. Giese (1) and Horvat (2) both made free throws and Horvat pushed the lead to 55-37 with a three-pointer two minutes after Kontopidis scored.

A free throw from Master Radford ended the Engineers' run, but another triple from Horvat made it a 20-point lead (58-38) with 12:49 to play. RPI's advantage grew to as many as 25 points on three occasions and remained in double digits the rest of the contest.

Giese finished with 14 points on 5 of 9 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, while Mahoney (5 of 9) scored 11 points with two caroms. The Engineers finished the game shooting 46.6% (27 of 58) from the field with eight (of 23) three pointers. 

RIT, which shot 47.3% (26 of 55) in the contest, was led by Curtis Nesbit's (5 of 09) 14 points. Okehie (5 of 7) chipped in with 11 points and four rebounds. Radford led the visitors with eight rebounds. 

The Tigers return to action on January 8 when they host Ithaca College. RPI is back on the court on Tuesday at Hobart College. Both games begin at 7pm and are Liberty League contests.