Will Engelhardt hit five 3-pointers on his way to 18 points, as the St. Lawrence University men's basketball team topped RIT 69-64 on Friday night in Rochester for their third win in four games.
Trent Adamson shot 8-12 to score 16 points, and Trey Syroka had eight points, six assists, and six rebounds.
Engelhardt connected on a shot from deep on the opening possession, and hit two more in the first half. RIT hit two 3-pointers in the final minute to go into half-time leading 30-27.
The Saints started with possession in the second half, and Engelhardt immediately hit his fourth shot from beyond the arc to tie the game at 30. RIT was able to stretch their lead to six, their largest of the game, five minutes into the half, but Aidan Macaulay answered with a shot from deep. St. Lawrence forced a turnover on the next possession and Gavin Macaulay tied the game with 3-pointer of his own. After another forced turnover, Syroka attacked the rim and laid the ball in to retake the lead.
The teams traded buckets over the next eight minutes, oscillated between a Saints' narrow lead or a tie game. With just over two minutes to play a Tiger jumper gave them their first lead in over 12 minutes. Gavin Macaulay responded with another shot from deep just 11-seconds later to retake the lead.
Adamson made it a three-point game, and after a long, scrappy possession from the Tigers, the Scarlet and Brown were able to come up with a stop. After burning a good portion of the clock, Engelhardt hit his fifth and final three of the night to make it a two-possession game. Syroka sealed the game with a late steal, and the Saints won 69-64.
Andrew Fox led the Tigers with a 21-point, 11-rebound double-double. Kevin Ryan added 11 points.
Turnovers were a difference maker in the game. RIT turned the ball over 17 times, which the Saints converted into 20 points, while the Tigers had six points off St. Lawrence's nine turnovers.
The Saints improved to 9-5 and are currently third place in the tough Liberty League conference with a 5-3 record. RIT fell to 7-8 and 3-5 in the league. St. Lawrence finishes their weekend trip on January 21st playing Hobart College at 4 p.m.