| 2/3/2007 6:40:33 PM

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PITTSFORD, NY -- The RIT men's basketball team rallied from an eight-point first half deficit to defeat St. John Fisher College 70-68 on Saturday afternoon. Colin Roy (Malta, NY/Ballston Spa)'s (Malta, NY/Ballston Spa) free throw with nine seconds to play in the second half preserved the victory for the Tigers.

The win improves RIT to 11-9 overall and 5-4 in the Empire 8. It was the first win over the Cardinals in 11 games.

RIT never led in the first half and trailed by as many as 12 points. The Tigers got as close as three points twice, late in the half,  on buckets from Mark Carson (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) and Adam Sweet (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport).

The Cardinals scored the last five points of the half and led 38-30 at the break. RIT shot 35.1% in the first half on 13-of-37 shooting from the floor.

The second half saw St. John Fisher extend their lead back out to 10 points and looked to have the game well in hand. But the gritty Tigers had other plans, going on a 16-2 run taking a 51-49 lead on a three-pointer from Barrett Zeinfeld (Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills) (Tucson, AZ/Catalina Foothills) with 12:49 to play.

A pair of free throws from Kenny Gethers (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) extended the Tigers lead to four points.

RIT would not relinquish the lead as they snapped a 54-game home regular season unbeaten streak by the Cardinals.

Tim Bacon (Massena. NY/Massena) (Massena, NY) had a monster game for RIT scoring 15 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Rick Whitwood (Wellsville, NY/Wellsville) (Wellsville, NY) added 12 points and six rebounds and Kenny Gethers (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Grimes) added 11 points and nine rebounds.

RIT dominated the glass, out-rebounding St. John Fisher 49-36. The Tigers had five steals and forced the Cardinals into nine turnovers.

RIT will host Nazareth College on Tuesday evening at 8 pm in Clark Gymnasium.