This is the first time since the 1995-1996 season that Rensselaer won their UCAA opener, which coincidently was also the last year the Red Hawks qualified for the NCAA tournament.

“We still have a long a way to go, but this is a great start to the [conference] season,” Head Coach Mike Griffin said. “We don’t want to fall behind in conference play because then you’re always playing catch-up.”

In the Hamilton contest RPI came out fired up in front of a packed house at Robinson Gymnasium.

The Rensselaer defense was relentless, causing the normally deadly Hamilton shooters to go cold from the field.

The Red Hawks contested every shot and did a great job closing down the passing lanes. The Red Hawks held Hamilton to just 5 percent shooting and 12 percent from beyond the arc.

“We matched up pretty well with them in the first half,” Griffin said. “They did not get any wide open looks.”

The Red Hawks’ offense had their fair share of shooting difficulties as well in the first half, but thanks to the playmaking ability of Paris Moore, Kori Massey, and Jared Hite, Rensselaer pushed the lead to 35-21 by halftime.

At halftime, Griffin encouraged his team to remain aggressive, take the ball to the hoop, and get out on the break.

“With guys like Kori, Paris, and Jared, we want to get out and run,” Griffin said. “They are very athletic and can sometimes just run by guys.”

The Red Hawks responded by opening the half on a 7-0 run extending the lead over 20 for just a brief moment. However, Hamilton refused to go away quietly, as their shooters finally began to catch fire.

Hamilton went on a 14-4 run over the next three minutes closing the gap to 46-35.

“They [Hamilton] made some adjustments in the second half which made it harder for us to get to them,” Griffin said. “It’s Hamilton, they are used to winning, and we knew they were not going to give up until there were all but zeros on the clock.”

And Hamilton did just that. Despite a 10-1 RPI run getting the deficit back up to 20 points, the Continentals refused to let down.

Guard Greg Leone led the Continental run with 29 points on 7-14 shooting from the three point line. With 5:30 remaining, the Rensselaer lead was down to just 10.

Less than a minute later the margin separating the two teams was just five, but that would be as close as Hamilton would come, as the Red Hawks’ defense again clamped down on the Hamilton shooters.

Rensselaer’s solid defense, along with clutch free-throw shooting, allowed the Red Hawks to hang on for the eight point win, and send the nation’s 16th ranked team packing.

Rensselaer killed Hamilton on the glass, out rebounding the Continentals 52 to 37 and forced Hamilton to take 36 three pointers.

The win ended Hamilton’s seven game winning streak over the Red Hawks and sent a powerful message to the rest of the UCAA.

“This was a big win for the program,” Griffin said. “No one in the program, besides me, has ever beaten them before, and we know if we want people in the league to take us seriously, we had to beat Hamilton.”

Hite posted outstanding numbers again, earning a double-double with 20 points and 17 rebounds while teammate Moore scored a team high 28 points 11-19 shooting.

“Jared and Paris are our horses,” Griffin said. “We would not be where we are without them.”

Kori Massey also continued his solid play at the point guard spot contributing nine points, handing out five assists, and only committing one turnover.

“Kori has just played very well, especially in his first season seeing considerable minutes,” Griffin said. “His decisions have become better this season.”

Massey leads the Red Hawks with 43 assists and has only turned the ball over seven times in 14 games this season.

The Hobart game was not much of a contest after the first five minutes. Hobart jumped out to a quick 7-6 lead, but the Red Hawks dominated from then on out, going on a 19-5 run to close out the half.

Rensselaer continued to be very active on defense, creating turnovers, and getting out on the fast break.

Rensselaer controlled the game in the second half, never allowing a mediocre Hobart team to climb back into the game.

Griffin, concerned about fatigue after such an emotional and physical game the night before, looked to his bench to step up against Hobart.

The bench did indeed step-up their play with every member on the Red Hawks’ roster contributing in the blow-out over Hobart, and 10 players scoring for Rensselaer.

“Tom Schneider and Neal Wesson gave us solid minutes off the bench,” Griffin said. “I’m feeling better about our bench playing well, I like to have at least eight or nine guys who can contribute when needed.”

Hite and Moore again had solid games in limited minutes in the win. Hite delivered another double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Moore had 13 points, and John Van Schaick added 11.

“Jared is a very dynamic player and he deserves the UCAA Forward of the Week award,” Griffin said. “Paris is so explosive and we have been riding those two all season. It was also encouraging to see John hit some shots. He has been in a slump and we need him to perform.”

Moore was named UCAA Guard of the Week for his performances this weekend.

Rensselaer beat Vassar College 68-52 on Tuesday night at Robinson Gymnasium.

Vassar only trailed the Red Hawks by five points at halftime, however, Rensselaer went on an 12-2 run to open the second half to put Vassar away.

The Red Hawks put on another solid shooting display as they went just under 50 percent from the field and 42 percent from the beyond the three-point line.

Hite put up spectacular numbers getting yet another double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Hite amazingly did not recieve an UCAA award this week dispite averaging a double-double in this weekend’s games.

Van Schaick had 12 points in the easy victory, Schneider added 10 points, and Moore had eight points.

The wins improve the Red Hawks to 10-4 and 3-0 in conference play.

Griffin and the Red Hawks will look to improve to 5-0 in the UCAA next weekend as they travel to the North Country to battle an average Clarkson team Friday evening and last season’s UCAA regular season champion in the, St. Lawrence Saints, on Saturday afternoon.