TROY, N.Y. - Senior Dom Black drove the court with under 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter and slid a pass to classmate Mason Memmelaar, who laid the ball into the basket with 1.8 seconds remaining to give the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's basketball team a 73-71 win over Ithaca College in a contest between two of the top teams in the Liberty League. The Engineers improve to 15-2 overall and 9-1 in the conference, while the Bombers drop to 11-7 and 7-4. 

After Ithaca junior Liam Spellman tied the game 71-71 with a three-pointer from the left wing with 8.8 seconds remaining, Rensselaer took the ball out from under its own basket. Inbounder Will Rubin passed the ball to Black, who cut up the court on the right side. He made his way past the defender as he got below the free throw line, drawing two other players. Black dished the ball underhand across his body to Memmelaar, who was left alone on the left block. Memmelaar took one step and leaped, avoided a defender and dropped the ball into the cylinder for the lead with just under two seconds remaining.

Ithaca's pass from under its own basket was knocked away by Rubin at half court and time expired.

The Bombers led for much of the contest, though the game was close throughout. RPI took its first lead of the second half, 66-64, on a Memmelaar jumper with 2:28 left. A pair of free throws from Luka Radovich tied the game but Memmelaar scored on a short jump hook with about a minute and a half to play. Following an Engineers steal, Memmelaar connected with a cutting Black, who made a contested layup for a 70-66 lead with a minute on the clock. 

Radovich, who had 27 points, hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two points with 44.8 to play and Memmelaar followed by making one of two from the line at the 23.4 mark. Spellman, a lefty, tied the game with under 10 seconds left in the half.

Black scored 25 points on 9 of 11 shooting while also grabbing three rebounds and handing out four assists. Brian Kelly had a career-high 18 points and Memmelaar finished with 15 for the Engineers, who shot 57.1% from the field (24 of 42), including 60.8% in the second half (14 of 23).

Ithaca connected on 14 of 28 first half shots and 25 of 57 (43.9%) overall with Radovich making 8 of 15, including five three pointers on his way to game-high honors. The transfer from Fordham University also had three rebounds, an assist and five steals. Spellman finished with a dozen points, as did Skylar Sinon.

The Engineers are back in action on Tuesday at Union College (5:30pm), while the Bombers face the Dutchwomen on Friday at 5:30pm.