TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team used an 18-0 run and 64.5% shooting in the second half to come-from-behind and defeat Bard College 84-77 in a Liberty League contest at East Campus Arena. The Engineers, who saw five student-athletes reach double figures in points, improve to 12-10 overall and 7-8 in the conference. The Raptors fall to 12-10 and 8-7.

After falling behind by 12 points at halftime (36-24) and trailing 61-50 with 9:39 to play in the second half, the Engineers scored 18 consecutive points to build a 68-61 edge with 5:18 to go in regulation. Mitchel Wayand, Tom Horvat and Jeffrey Coulter each hit three pointers to get Rensselaer within a basket, 61-59, before Andreas Kontopidis tied the game at 61-61 with 6:04 left. Horvat scored on a layup following a Coulter steal and Marcus Geise tipped-in a rebound. Kontopidis scored the next three points before Bard's David Runcie scored a three point play to end the skid and bring the visitors to within four points, 68-64. Runcie's basket ended an 0 for 7 drought for Bard during Rensselaer's run.

Following Runcie's and-1, the Engineers built on its lead to 71-64 on a layup from Kontopidis and a free throw from Coulter. Bard pulled to within five points with 3:37 to play (71-66), but could get no closer for the remainder of the contest.

RPI connected on 20 of 31 shots in the second half, including 7 of 9 from behind the arc, after making just 10 of its 29 shots (34.5%) in the first 20 minutes. Kontopidis led all scorers with 23 points on 9 of 16 shooting while pulling down six rebounds with three assists. Horvat scored 16 points, Patrick Mahoney had 13 with nine rebounds and Giese tallied 10 points, nine boards and a game-high seven assists. Coulter also scored 10 points.

Alijah Rue finished with 18 points for the Raptors, who shot 53.8% (14 of 26) in the first half to take a commanding lead. He also had five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Runcie scored 15 points with six rebounds, Jelani Bell-Isaac had 12 with four caroms and Armando Dunn had 10 points and eight rebounds.

RPI returns to action on Saturday afternoon when it hosts Vassar College at 4pm. Bard plays at Hobart College on Saturday afternoon.