SCHENECTADY, NY – The RIT men's basketball team (10-6, 5-3 Liberty League) won its third game Tuesday evening with a 76-68 victory at Union College (8-7, 2-5 Liberty League). Four TIgers scored in double figures, led by JP Reagan (Cortland, NY/Cortland) who tallied 17 points. With the win, the Tigers move into third place in the Liberty League standings.
 
RIT shot 47.5 percent from the field on 28-for-59 shooting. The Tigers shot 6-of-19 from behind the arc, and 14-of-21 from the foul line. Reagan led with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor. He scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half, and also added six rebounds. Joe Stortini (Red Hook, NY/Loomis Chaffee) scored 14 points off the bench, and AJ Horde (Oak Park, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) and Miguel Lopez (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/St. Francis) each tallied 11. Kamron Davis (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds to go along with seven points.

William Hython led Union with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 8-for-10 from the foul line. Deshon Burgess added 15 points and eight boards, while Ryan Whepley added 13 points.
 
RIT fell behind early as the Dutchmen opened the game scoring the first nine points. Burgess gave Union a 9-0 lead on his layup nearly four minutes into the first half. A Kevin Weckworth 3-pointer with 15:39 to play gave the Dutchmen its largest lead of the game at 12-2.
 
RIT responded with a 12-4 run, pulling to within 24-23 on a 3-pointer from Stortini with seven minutes to play in the half. That capped off a 5-0 mini-burst by the Tigers started by a layup from Horde at the 7:17 mark.

The Dutchmen would extend their lead back to six points before the Tigers went on a tear, closing out the opening half on a 10-0 run. A pair of Lopez free throws with 2:35 to play tied the score at 33-33, while Casey Bobelis (Bradenton, FL/Braden River) gave RIT its first lead of the game with a layup with 1:47 to play. Stortini added a bucket with 1:14 left, giving the Tigers a 37-33 halftime lead.

RIT shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half on 15-of-30 shooting. Reagan led the Tigers with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Lopez scored six, while Stortini added five points.

The Tigers never trailed in the second half, leading by as many as 11 points. Hython tied the score early in the second half with a pair of free throws with 18:56 to play. Whepley tied the score at 39-39 with 18 minutes to play on his bucket off a feed from Weckworth.

A Bobelis bucket with 8:52 to play gave RIT its first double-digit led of the game. The Tigers would build their lead to 11 points on another Bobelis basket off a feed from Reagan which gave RIT a 64-53 lead with 7:18 to play.

RIT would maintain the lead until an 8-0 run late in the game cut the Tigers lead to 70-67. Weckworth was fouled by Davis with 45 seconds to play. He stepped to the line and drained both free throws, making it a three-point game.

Union fouled RIT immediately on its next possession sending Stortini to the line with seconds later. He calmly made both free throws, extending RIT's lead to 72-67.

Horde sealed the win when he stole the ball from Burgess with :29 to play and laid the ball in, giving the Tigers a 74-67 lead. Two more clutch free throws from Sheldon Clay (Detroit, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) with :10 to play gave the Tigers a 76-68 win.

RIT scored 38 of its 76 points in the paint, and capitalized on only 10 turnovers by Union, scoring 13 points. The Tigers are 4-6 all-time versus Union and have won the last three meetings between the two schools.
 
The Tigers return to action on Friday, Jan. 30 with a road contest at league foe Clarkson University that gets underway at 8 p.m.