ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT (9-8, 5-3 Liberty League) men's basketball team needed two overtimes to beat Liberty League rival Bard College (6-11, 3-5 Liberty League) 77-69 on Saturday from the floor of Clark Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. With the win, RIT improves to 8-1 all time versus Bard.

RIT shot 36.4 percent from the floor on 24-of-66 from the floor. The Tigers went 9-of-24 from 3-point land, and went a solid 20-of-26 from the foul line.

AJ Horde (Oak Park, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) led RIT with 18 points and 10 assists. Mitch Herman (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) added 16 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Sheldon Clay (Detroit, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) scored 11 points, and Troy Pierre-Louis (Providence, RI/Berkshire School) tallied 15 points off the bench.

"It was a gutty win," said RIT head coach Bob McVean. "We got some very good performances off the bench in Justin (Schneider), Troy (Pierre-Louis) and Anthony (Lewis). It may have not been our best game, but we kept after it and were able to get the win."

Brandon Cunningham led Bard with 21 points and 11 rebounds, while DeVahnte Mosley added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Raptors who shot 41.3 percent from the floor.

Trailing 26-23 at the half, RIT came out in the second half and took a 29-28 lead on a 3-pointer from Pierre-Louis inside the first two minutes of the half. That capped off a 13-2 spurt by the Tigers to open the second half. Another 3-pointer by Pierre-Louis at the 15:15 mark of the second half gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game at 36-28. Pierre-Louis scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half and overtime.

Bard came back, whittling away at the RIT lead over an eight-minute span. Cunningham hit a free throw with 7:16 to play, giving the Raptors a 44-43 lead. A layup by Mosley with 6:07 to play gave Bard a 49-45 lead.

With 2:26 to play in regulation, Harry Johnson gave Bard 52-49 lead on his layup off a missed RIT attempt. Herman drained a 3-pointer with 1:17 to play off an assist from Horde giving the Tigers a 54-52 lead.

Cunningham tied the score with a pair of free throws with 55 seconds to play in regulation. The Tigers had three chances down at the end of regulation, but shots from Horde, Pierre-Louis and Herman all came off the rim sending the game into overtime.

In the first overtime, Herman had to make a pair of free throws inside the final 10 seconds of the period, tying the game at 61-61. Cunningham had given Bard a 61-59 lead on his bucket off an assist from Mosley with 34 seconds to play.

Buckets by Herman and Sheldon Clay (Detroit, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) to open the second overtime gave RIT a 64-61 lead. Two free throws by Horde with 1:30 to play gave RIT an eight-point lead.

Rebounds were even at 45 apiece. The Tigers grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, tallying 19 second-chance points. The Tigers scored 10 points off of 16 Bard turnovers.

RIT returns to action on Friday, Jan. 29 when the Tigers host Rensselaer in Liberty League action from Clark Gym at 8 p.m.