MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Will Rubin scored 18 points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) held No. 8 Wesleyan University to 25 points below its season average in defeating the Cardinals 59-58 in an NCAA Tournament Second Round game at Silloway Gymnasium. The Engineers, who rank first in Division III in scoring defense (57.5 ppg) improve to 23-5 and advance to the Sweet 16 against No. 13 WPI on Friday. The Cardinals end the season with a 25-4 record.

In a game that came down to the final possession, Wesleyan's Preston Maccoux saw his fall away jumper at the final buzzer hit the front rim and carom away, giving RPI its second trip to the Sweet 16 in school history. The 1995-96 squad also advanced that far.

Neither side led by more than eight points all game while a majority of the contest was spent with either side leading by a single possession. Heading down to the final two minutes, Sam Peek of the Cardinals had just hit a stepback jumper to make it 57-55 for the Engineers but on the ensuing possession, in the face of a ravenous home crowd, RPI's Rubin drove the lane and hit a floater to build back a four-point lead.

As the clock wound down under 20 seconds with RPI still leading 59-55, Nicky Johnson found a floater of his own to cut the deficit to 59-57. After a timeout, Johnson came up with a huge steal off a Rubin inbounds pass with the ball landing in the hands of Shackylle Dezonie, who drove close but was denied at the rim by Jonny Angbazo.
 
With just over five seconds left, the ball was in-bounded to Peek, who was immediately fouled. Needing both free throws to tie the score, he hit the first but missed the second. With a rebound up for grabs, Maccoux rose up and deflected the ball off an Engineers player out of bounds to give the Cardinals the ball back down by one.
 
Playing without any timeouts, the ball was in-bounded and came back to Maccoux, who dribbled to his right and lofted a shot that came ever so close to falling in. The last-second miss was met with pure joy by the RPI bench and traveling supporters as the Engineers celebrated advancing to the Sweet 16 following wins over Nichols and the host Cardinals this weekend.
 
Points were at a premium all night as the nation's top defensive team in RPI played to their strengths and limited the Cardinals to the tune of 15 turnovers and a 6-for-22 showing from three-point range. Nearly a third of Wesleyan's points came off second chance opportunities as the Cardinals used a +12 rebounding advantage (36-24), including a seismic 14-2 (+12) edge in offensive rebounds to outscore the Engineers 19-0 in second chance points.
 
It was a positive start for the visitors as RPI's smothering defense shined while points came in a flurry as made buckets on three straight possessions opened a 16-10 lead in the early going for the Engineers. Gabe Ravetz, however, caught fire for a brief period as he pulled up from NBA range and hit nothing but net on two straight possessions to tie the score at 16.
 
As they did all night, however, RPI continued to have an answer as the Engineers scored six unanswered which turned into a 9-2 run to make it 25-18 RPI. The Engineers lead grew to eight late in the stanza but an 8-2 Wesleyan run made it just a two-point deficit (34-32) at the halftime break.
 
That late momentum carried over into the second half as a 7-0 spurt in a span of just 1:31 gave Wesleyan a 39-36 lead, capped by a Peek steal and look-ahead pass to Johnson for an easy two points on the fast break.
 
Wesleyan later stretched their advantage to six points at 45-39, the largest Cardinals lead of the game, with 13:33 remaining but a near-seven minute scoring drought for Wesleyan allowed RPI to retake a six-point lead at 51-45 as the Engineers rattled off a crucial 12-0 run.
 
Ravetz broke the scoreless streak with a three from the wing that re-energized the home crowd and set the stage for an incredibly tense final five minutes that came down to the final shot attempt.

Rubin led RPI with 18 points (6-11 FG), five rebounds and four assists as the Engineers' starting combined to play 186 of a possible 200 minutes in this one. Mason Memmelaar tallied 15 points while Dom Black finished with nine points and nine assists.

Peek led all scorers with a game-high 19 points (8-14 FG) while he added five rebounds, two assists and two blocks but he was victimized with six turnovers against a stingy RPI defense. Ravetz poured in 13 points off the bench while Johnson finished with 11.