Men's Basketball | 1/31/2012 8:31:00 PM

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GENEVA, NY -- The RIT (6-12, 2-7 LL) men's basketball team was defeated by Hobart College 79-70 in Liberty League action from Geneva, N.Y. on Tuesday night.

The Tigers went scoreless for a 4:51 span midway thorugh the first half, trailing by as many as 17 points. RIT rallied late in the half with a 10-4 run to close out the half trailing 37-26.

A three pointer by Brendan Harder (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) at the 17:11 mark of the second half cut Hobart's lead to eight points, the closest RIT had been to the Statesmen since early in the first half.

Hobart went on a 17-5 run over a 6:05 span in the second half to extend their lead to 20 points. RIT responded with a 14-2 run of their own, cutting the lead to nine points on a pair of free throw by Jameel Balenton (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers). The Tigers kept the pressure on, cutting the Statesmen lead to seven points on layup by Balenton with 2:06 to play. With 40 seconds to play and RIT trailing by nine points, three straight points on a free throw by Balenton and a layup by Justin Heisig (Levittown, NY/Island Trees) cut the Hobart lead to six points.

The Statesmen made their shots and free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Harder led RIT with 21 points and six rebounds. Heisig finished with 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Balenton and Desmond Scott (Murphy, TX/Plano East) each had 11 points for the Tigers who fall to 2-7 in the Liberty League.

The Tigers shot 51.8 percent from the floor on 29-of-56 shooting. RIT was 3-of-12 from behind the arc and made 9-of-12 free throws. RIT held a slight rebounding edge at 28-27.

RIT returns to action on Friday, Feb. 3 at Clarkson at 8 p.m.