ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY -- The RIT (8-5, 2-2 Liberty League) men's basketball team trailed by 13 points in the first half, but rallied to beat Bard College (2-9, 0-2 Liberty League) 87-77 on Saturday afternoon. It is the second straight win for the Tigers who even their record to 2-2 in conference play.

"It was a very gritty win," said RIT head coach Bob McVean. "Our bench was excellent today. We got a lot of contributions from guys off the ench. I felt we wore them down in the end with our depth."

RIT shot 47.5 percent from the floor on 28-of-59 shooting. The Tigers were 6-of-15 from behind the arc, and went 25-of-34 from the foul line. AJ Horde (Oak Park, MI/University of Detroit Jesuit) led RIT with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Robert Aguilera (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) added 15 points, six rebounds and three blocks, while Anthony Lewis (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) scored 12 points off the bench for the Tigers.

David Runcie led Bard with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Jelani Bell-Isaac and Chris Lockwood each scored 11 points for the Raptors, who shot 40.8 percent from the floor.

RIT trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half. Emmanuel Oyakhilome drained a 3-pointer with 8:07 to play to increase the Raptors lead to 34-21. Runcie scored five straight points for Bard to increase the lead after RIT had cut it to six points.

The Tigers answered with a 16-5 run, cutting the Bard lead to 39-37 on a pair of Horde free throws with a minute to play in the half. Horde scored eight of RIT's 16 points in that stretch. Bell-Isaac and Runcie scored two late baskets to increase the Raptor lead to 43-37 at the half.

"We withstood a great start shooting by Bard," said McVean. "We did not panic. Believed in one another and were able to climb back into the game."

RIT opened the second half on an 18-10 run, taking its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Horde at the 14:58 mark. He scored eight straight points during the run for RIT to give the Tigers the lead and the momentum.

Wyatt Smith (Rochester, NY/Irondequoit) gave RIT a 67-56 lead on an old fashioned 3-point play at the 12:32 mark of the half. Bard answered right back, cutting the Tigers lead to 67-62 on a layup by Runcie with 10:15 to play in regulation. That would be as close as the Raptors would get, as RIT answered with a 10-1 run, taking a 77-63 lead on pair of Lewis free throws.

Bard got back to within six points with three minutes to play, but RIT outscored the Raptord 10-6 over the final minutes to win by 10.

RIT held a 43-29 rebounding edge, including 12 offensive boards, leading to 10 points. The Tigers scored 36 points in the paint.

The Tigers return to action on Friday, Jan. 13 when they host Skidmore College at 8 p.m. on the floor of Clark Gym.