NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology junior Matt Loesing scored under the basket with two seconds left as the Fightin' Engineer men's basketball team won in dramatic fashion for the second straight Saturday by a 55-54 count at Manchester University.

Loesing battled a defender for position under the basket to score with two seconds left, after an outstanding baseline pass by sophomore Dillon Reynolds.  The Engineer point guard leaped and passed around the waist of a Manchester defender, feeding Loesing for the winning basket.

Manchester attempted a half-court shot at the buzzer that missed wide right as Rose-Hulman won in dramatic fashion for the second consecutive Saturday.  Last weekend, junior Michael Hallstein scored a layup at the buzzer in a 67-66 win over Transylvania University.

Loesing led Rose-Hulman's offensive performance with a career-high 19 points on 8-13 from the field.  He added five rebounds in 30 minutes of action.

The balanced scoring attack featured five more Rose-Hulman players with five points or more.  Junior Tyler Duffy, junior Jimmy Miller and sophomore Collin Wojcik had seven points each; Reynolds tallied six points, and senior Corey Povaleri scored five for the Fightin' Engineers.

Brady Dolezal led the Manchester offense with 17 points on 5-14 from the field.  Blake Brouwer also reached double figures with 10 points for the Spartans.

The teams battled through a tightly contested first half, with Rose-Hulman holding a narrow 23-22 lead at the break.  The margin remained within one possession for nearly the entire second half, as Miller gave Rose-Hulman the lead at 41-40 with 6:36 remaining.

After Rose-Hulman took a 45-42 lead on a Wojcik score with 2:48 left, a three-pointer and three free throws from Chase Casteel put Manchester ahead 48-47 with 1:23 remaining.  Manchester's lead grew to three points at 51-48 on a three-point play by Dolezal with 41 seconds left.

Povaleri answered with a layup to bring Rose-Hulman within 51-50 with 23 seconds remaining, before Dolezal hit one of two free throws to give the Spartans a two-point edge.  On the next possession, Povaleri drove down the lane and hit an open Duffy for a three-pointer to put Rose-Hulman back ahead 53-52 with 14 seconds left.

Manchester answered with a Dolezal drive to the basket, and the leading Spartan scorer was fouled with eight seconds left.  He hit both free throws to give Manchester a 54-53 edge.

Rose-Hulman sprinted down the floor and called a timeout in front of its own bench with five seconds remaining, setting the stage for the game winning play.

Rose-Hulman improved to 4-4 on the season and 2-1 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play with its third straight win.  Manchester dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in league play.

With the win, the Fightin' Engineers move into second place in the HCAC standings behind only 3-0 Hanover.  Rose-Hulman returns to non-conference action with a home game against Blackburn College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.