| 2/15/2003 11:18:38 PM
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Oneonta, N.Y.— Poor shooting and foul trouble caused the Tigers to drop to second in the Empire 8 with a 88-68 loss to Hartwick College at Binder Gymnasium. RIT’s leading scorer Mike Stanton (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) fouled out with 7:32 left in regulation and was held to a season low eight points.
The Rochester Institute of Technology jumped to a quick lead after 6-10 center Jesse Foote (Lockwood, N.Y./Spencer-Van Ettan) (Lockwood, N.Y.) won the opening tip. Hartwick struggled to get shots off the ten minutes of play scoring only nine points. Then Joel Blackwel (Barrington, Mass.) netted his 1,000th career point to spark the Hawks to an 11-2 run to trail the Tigers by three with 6:22 remaining in the half. Three straight missed shots for RIT allowed Hartwick to tie the game up at 25 and take the 31-29 lead at the close of the half.
RIT, usually a strong second half team, entered the hardwoods with intentions of regaining the lead and taking home the victory; however Hartwick had a different plan. With a packed gym the Hawks kicked up their defense holding the Tigers scoreless for over five minutes just after the start of the second. Dan Cerro (Union Springs, N.Y.) answered Matt Guzielik’s (Johnstown, N.Y.) shot to bring RIT with in two. Senior co-captain Nick Panepinto (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Catholic) (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) came off the bench to trigger the offense. Panepinto and Cerro both closed out the night with 13 points apiece to lead the Tigers. Their efforts as well as the loss of RIT’s Stanton to foul trouble allowed the Hawks to knock RIT out of first place of the Empire 8.
RIT will return to action when they host cross-town rival Nazareth College for the Coaches vs. Cancer game on February 19th at 8 p.m.
