| 1/28/2006 12:41:03 AM
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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s basketball team (10-7, 4-2 Empire 8) shot a blistering 53.6 percent from the field, defeating Empire 8 rival Hartwick College 88-61 en route to their fourth straight win on Friday night before 300 fans at the Clark Gym.
Senior guard Fran Snyder (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon St. Jude) (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon St. Jude) led five Tigers in double figures with game-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds. Barrett Zeinfeld (Tuscon, AZ/Catalina Foothills) (Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills) chipped in with 14 points. Tim Bacon (Massena, NY/Massena) (Massena, NY/Massena) tallied 13 points and seven rebounds.
Tyler Springer (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell) (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell) shot 4-for-5 from the field to finish with 10 points and four assists. Junior forward Brian Hill (Rochester, NY/Wheatland-Chili) (Rochester, NY/Wheatland-Chili) did not miss a shot all evening, making both of his field goal attempts and draining all six of his free throws to score a season-high 10 points.
Jan Cocozziello led Hartwick (7-10, 1-5 Empire 8) with 19 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. He scored 13 points in the second half. Tim Kindlon tallied 14 points, while A.J. Beaulieu chipped in with 13 points and three assists.
RIT shot a season-best 71.4 percent (15-for-21) from the field in the first half, as they scored 16 straight points to jump out to 23-4 lead over the first 8:40 of the contest en route to a 45-30 lead at the break.
Zeinfeld scored seven of his 10 first-half points during the quick spurt.
Hartwick got as close as 35-26 with 2:51 left in the half, before RIT ended the half on a 10-4 spurt, highlighted by five points from Snyder. The fourth-year guard led all players with 13 points and five rebounds in the first half.
Hartwick shot a respectable 46.4 percent from the field over the opening 20 minutes. Kindlon made three 3-pointers and led the Hawks with 11 points.
The Tigers opened the second half on a 16-4 run to go up 61-34 with 14:39 left in regulation.
RIT led by as much as 28 in the second half. The Tigers had 23 assists on 30 made field goals. Colin Roy (Malta, NY/Ballston Spa) (Malta, NY/Malta) dished out a team-high five assists.
For the second straight game, RIT shot well from the free throw line. Tonight, RIT was 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) from the charity stripe. RIT also shot well from 3-point range, draining almost half (8-of-17) of their shots behind the arc.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday afternoon, as they host Utica in an Empire 8 conference game. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.
