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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s basketball team (11-7, 5-2 Empire 8) shot over 50 percent from the field for the second straight game, upending Empire 8 rival Utica College 71-62 en route to their fourth straight win on Saturday afternoon before 300 fans at the Clark Gym.

 

The win moved the Tigers into a three-way tie for second place in the Empire 8 standings with Utica and Ithaca, who lost to St. John Fisher on Saturday.

 

Fran Snyder (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon St. Jude) (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon St. Jude) led RIT with 22 points and was clutch from the line, making 11-of-12 free throws.  Barrett Zeinfeld (Tuscon, AZ/Catalina Foothills) (Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills) shot 5-for-8 from 3-point range en route to 19 points. 

 

Ray Bryant led Utica (14-3, 5-2 Empire 8) with 24 points.  He made 12-of-13 free-throws.

 

Utica scored the first six points of the second half on back-to-back 3-pointers by Doug Herring and Justin Cichon to go up 35-31.  The Pioneers had a golden change to go up six when Bryant stole an errant Tiger pass and had a clear breakaway.  His one-handed tomahawk dunk went off the back of the rim and caromed to Colin Roy (Malta, NY/Ballston Spa) (Malta, NY/Malta).  Roy whirled and found Snyder alone at the other end for the easy lay-up and a 35-33 score.  RIT scored the next six points to go up 39-35 and never trailed after that.

 

RIT used clutch second half 3-point shooting from Tyler Springer (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell) (Endwell, NY/Maine-Endwell) and Zeinfeld to put the game away.  Springer finished with 11 points.  RIT shot 5-for-8 from 3-point range in the second half.

 

Roy led RIT with five assists.  RIT out-rebounded Utica 38-27.  The Tigers turned the ball over 20 times to Utica’s nine.  The Tigers shot 52.6 percent from the field, including 10-for-17 (58.8%) in the second half.

 

RIT got off to a great start, opening the game on a 13-3 run and extending the lead to 28-17 on a lay-up by Roy with 4:13 left in the opening half.  The Tigers made 10 of their first 16 shots from the field. 

 

Utica responded with a 12-1 run of their own to tie the game at 29 on a 3-pointer by Willie Lucas with 12 seconds left.  Snyder was fouled in the final seconds and made both of his free-throws to give the Tigers a 31-29 lead entering the break.

 

Bryant led Utica with 13 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the line and added four boards Overall, the Pioneers shot just 30.8% from the floor over the opening 20 minutes of play.  Snyder had 13 first-half points to lead the Tigers.

 

The Tigers received a scare with 1:07 left in the first half, when Zeinfeld suffered an injury, as he collided with Utica’s Justin Cichon.  He limped off the court, but returned to start the second half.

 

The loss for Utica snapped a seven-game winning streak.

 

The Tigers return to action on Friday evening, as the Elmira College Soaring Eagles make their annual trip to the Clark Gym in an Empire 8 conference game.  Tip-off is at 8 p.m.