Men's Basketball | 1/30/2009 10:30:22 PM

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UTICA, NY -- The RIT men's basketball held off a second-half rally to beat Utica College 58-55 in Empire 8 action on Friday night. The win, RIT's third straight on the road, improves the Tigers to 13-4 overall and 9-0 in the Empire 8.  RIT is 9-1 in 2009.

Adam Sweet (Weedsport, NY/Weedsport) (Weedsport, NY) led a balanced scroing attack with 14 points, including nine in the second half. Mark Carson (Voorheesville, NY/Voorheesville) (Voorheesville, NY) had nine points and 13 rebounds and blocked a potential game-tying basket in the final seconds.

Shawn Roe (Corning, NY/Corning East) (Corning, NY/Corning East) chipped in nine points, while Scott Young (Almond, NY/Hornell) (Almond, NY/Hornell), Marcus Lowe (Anchorage, AK/Service) (Anchorage, AK/Service) and #Brendan Harder (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta)# (Oneonta, NY) each had eight points.  Harder added eight boards in just 13 minutes of action.

RIT led 26-19 at halftime but the Pioneers came out and outscored the Tigers 17-9 in the opening moments of the second half to take a 36-35 lead.

The lead went back and forth for several minutes until Brendan Harder (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) made two free throws at the 9:52 mark to give the Tigers the lead for good.

Lowe played a big role, getting a block on a Doug Herring shot late in the contest. He got the rebound, was fouled and made the free throws keeping the game in RIT's favor.

RIT shot 36.4% from the floor on 20-of-55 shooting. The Tigers were 5-of-17 from three point land and out-rebounded the Pioneers 43-22.

RIT will face Elmira College tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. at Speidel Gymnasium in Elmira, New York.