| 12/11/2002 10:37:45 PM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Seth Hauben scored 18 points and grabbed 20 rebounds as the No. 2 University of Rochester men's basketball team posted a 64-52 victory against the Rochester Institute of Technology in the Palestra Wednesday evening.

The U of R jumped out to an 8-2 lead 3:12 into the first half, but the Tigers cut the lead to 12-10 going on an 8-4 run over the next eight minutes.

However, the Yellowjackets quickly built their largest lead of the first half at 19-10 with a three-pointer from Tim Sweeney and layups from Andy Larkin and Hauben. RIT managed to cut the lead to 26-21 on Sean Murphy's three-pointer with 50 seconds to go in the half, but it stood that way until a pair of Gabe Perez free throws with nine seconds to go gave U of R a 28-21 halftime lead. Murphy scored 10 points and grabbed eight boards off the bench for the Tigers.

U of R built a 12-point advantage 3:48 into the second half on a 9-4 run building a 37-25 lead. The Yellowjackets maintained the same margin midway through the second half, but the Tigers went on a 6-0 run sparked by three free throws from Luis Villalongo and a Mike Stanton bucket to cut the lead in half 46-40 with 7:46 to go in the contest. Stanton led the Tigers with 17 points.

However, U of R went on an 8-2 run to rebuild the 12-point advantage keyed by Perez with five points and three from Hauben. Perez finished with 17 points.

The Yellowjackets built their largest lead of the game with a 15-point lead with 2:03 remaining, before Matt Borthwick scored the final four Tiger points for the 64-52 final score.

The Tigers host the Harold J. Brodie tournament on Dec. 13-14 with D'Youville and York (N.Y.) squaring off in the first game on Friday at 6 p.m., while RIT faces Lake Erie College at 8 p.m. The tournament closes at Saturday with the consolation game at 1 p.m. and the championship at 3 p.m.