The men’s basketball team faced Hamilton in the UCAA semi-finals. The fourth-seeded Red Hawks fought to upset the first-seeded Continentals, who had a 20-5 season, with a 11-3 conference record.
Rensselaer started off the game strong, despite shooting four percent worse than Hamilton. The Red Hawks kept up with the Continentals through their starters, who all scored with double digits. Hamilton held a slim 41-40 lead after the first half.
RPI started the second with a bang. The Red Hawks went on an 11-0 run and were up by 10 points. The Continentals came back, with hot shooting by Hamilton’s C.J. Cantil. Hamilton tied the game at 60, and pulled ahead to win the game, 83-74.
Hamilton was led by 18 points from Joe Finley. Greg Leone added 17 points, and Watervliet native Kevin Yanni scored 14.
The Red Hawks starters were the stars. Each tallied double digits in points, led by Paris Moore’s 17 points and Jared Hite, with 16 points and 10 boards. John Van Schaick and Tom Schneider each added 12 points, and Kevin Moore poured in 10 points. The bench only scored seven points to the 17 scored by the Continental bench, though.
At 13-13, the Red Hawks’ season is over. They had great success and hope to build on this year for another strong season.
