ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team mounted a determined second-half rally but fell 60–56 to Wheaton (Mass.) in the Michael A. Freilich Classic championship at Dewar Arena today. Tied down the stretch after a game-tying basket from Andrew Deppe in the final minute, Wheaton claimed the victory with a game-winning three-pointer with less than a second remaining.

Yechiel Stewart paced RPI with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, Deppe added 14 points with five rebounds and four assists, and PJ Scalisi and Dylan Matchett combined for 16 more as the Engineers outscored the Lyons 36–27 after halftime and clawed back from a deficit that reached 18 points in the first half. 

Wheaton's perimeter shooting built a 33-20 lead at the break, but RPI changed the tenor out of the locker room by stringing stops into runouts and layering timely threes.

Stewart jump-started the comeback with a right-wing triple, Deppe finished through contact and added the free throw, and Scalisi buried a kick-out three to key a 22-6 rally to start the second half.

The two squads stayed close down to wire, with Deppe hitting a jumper from the free throw line to tie things at 56-all with 25 seconds remaining, setting up Sean Perri's contested right-wing three that dropped with less than a second left to give the Wheaton the win.

RPI will next face SUNY Cobleskill in the team's home opener on November 25 at 7:00 pm.