Men's Basketball | 1/17/2009 4:02:51 PM
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CHILI, NY - The second-seeded RIT men's basketball team (10-4) used a pair of big second half runs to pull away and defeat fifth-seeded Roberts Wesleyan, 68-53 in the fifth place game of the 2009 J.P. Morgan Chase Scholarship Tournament at Volker Gymnasium on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday.
Trailing 41-34 with 16:08 left in the second half, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run to go up 45-41. They would not trail the rest of the way, taking the lead on a 3-pointer by
Scott Young (Almond, NY/Hornell) (Almond, NY/Hornell) with 14:55 left. Roberts cut the RIT lead to 50-48 on a layup by Mark Saladzius, but the Tigers responded, ending the game on an 18-5 run.
RIT's defense was stout in the second half, forcing 13 Roberts Wesleyan turnovers and recording 10 steals. Roberts Wesleyan shot 37 percent over the final 20 minutes as opposed to 47 percent for RIT.
Senior forward
Mark Carson (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) had his streak of 12 straight double-doubles snapped. He scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and added nine rebounds and a pair of steals. Young, a junior, chipped in with 18 points, five boards and three steals. Young drained four 3-pointers. Sophomore
Shawn Roe (Corning, NY/Corning East) (Corning, NY/Corning East) added 12 points.
Sophomore guard
Nate Kornichak (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville), who hit a free throw with 1.8 seconds left to win Friday's consolation game against SUNY Brockport, dished out seven assists, while scoring six points, pulling down four rebounds and recording three assists.
RIT, who came into today's contest out-rebounding opponents by nearly 10 per game, were dominated on the boards by the Raiders. Roberts Wesleyan out-rebounded RIT 47-34, including 18-9 on the offensive end.
Saladzius led Roberts Wesleyan (9-8) with 14 points, 10 boards and four assists. Justin Andreozzi and Jemel Williams added 11 and 10 points apiece.
RIT led by as much as nine in the first half, but Roberts Wesleyan used a 15-2 run to take a 30-26 lead into the intermission.
The Tigers shot 40 percent from the field in the first half and were just 1-for-8 from 3-point range and 1-for-7 from the foul line
The Tigers return to Empire 8 action on Friday, as they travel to Hoboken, N.J. to play Stevens at 8 p.m.
