SCHENECTADY, NY -- The RIT (12-13, 8-8 Liberty League) men's basketball team was defeated by Union College (13-11, 10-6 Liberty League) 86-79 on Sunday in the regular season finale. With the loss, the Tigers are eliminiated from the Liberty League Tournament by virtue of tiebreakers with Vassar and Hobart.

AJ Horde (Oak Park, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) led RIT with 33 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the floor, and 10-of-12 from the foul line. He also added five assists and two steals. He finished the year by leading RIT by averaging 21.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. Horde is the first RIT player to average 20 or more points per game in a season since Craig Jones (23.2) and Aaron Morrison (20.9) did so during the 1996-97 season.

Troy Pierre-Louis (Providence, RI/Berkshire School) added 16 points off the bench on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, and Kamron Davis (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham), playing in his final game as a Tiger, finished with nine points and seven rebounds. He averaged 12.9 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game this season and finished his RIT career with 594 points and 469 rebounds.

RIT shot 44.1 percent from the floor 30-of-68 shooting. The Tigers made 7-of-22 from behind the arc, and wnet 12-of-17 from the foul line. 

William Hython was one of five Dutchmen in double figures with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Wade McNamara added 21 pointsm while Ryan Whelpley tallied 17 points. Zachary Bouton scored 14 and Deshon Burgess added 11 points and six assists for Union who earn the second seed in next week's Liberty League Tournament.

Trailing by four early in the first half, Anthony Lewis (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) gave RIT its first lead on his 3-pointer nearly 3:30 into the game, giving the Tigers an 8-6 lead. Horde made it a 14-11 lead at the 14:43 mark of the first half on his layup off a Davis steal on the defensive end.

Later in the half, RIT trailed by three when Pierre-Louis was fouled as he laid the ball in. He converted the old fashioned 3-point play, tying the score at 19-19. The Duthmen answered with a 13-2 run, taking a 32-21 lead on a Hython layup with five minutes to play in the half.

A pair of Whelpley free throws with 2:19 to play in the half gave Union its largest lead of the game at 39-24. The Tigers responded, out scoring the Dutchmen 7-0 over the final two minutes to cut the Union lead to 39-31 on a Pierre-Louis 3-pointer with 41 seconds to play.

Pierre-Louis finished with eight first-half points, while Horde added 12 for the Tigers who shot 33.3 percent from the floor in the first half. Lewis tallied six points off the bench and davis grabbed five rebounds.

McNamara drained a 3-pointer at the 18:22 mark of the second half, giving the Dutchmen a 47-36 lead. RIT showed its resiliency, pulling to within 47-45 on a deep long rang basket from Horde. That capped off a 9-0 run by the Tigers, with Pierre-Louis tallying four points and Horde five in the stretch.

Burgess gave the Dutchmen a seven-point cushion on his layup with 14:52 to play, but Horde came storming right back for the Tigers, draining three free throws after being fouled while attemtping a 3-pointer. That cut the Union lead to 54-50 with 14:24 to play.

Horde pulled RIT to within two points on his jumper with 5:52 to play, cutting the Union lead to 66-64.

Every time RIT would get close, Union would come down and make a big bucket to keep the lead. After Pierre-Louis made it a three-point game, Bouton drained a big 3-pointer with 3:03 to play, making it 72-66 Union.

After a pair of Bouton free throws made it 79-71, Mitch Herman (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) nailed a 3-pointer with 1:15 to play, making it 79-74. But, the Dutchmen made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Union held a 38-35 rebounding edge, while the Tigers had nine assists on 30 baskets.