On Saturday the men’s basketball team partially avenged last year’s loss to Hobart in the UCAA finals with a 78-69 win on the road, achieving a weekend split after Friday’s 85-75 loss at Hamilton.

Friday’s defeat was due in large part to a terrible first half in which the Red Hawks were 0-for-10 from three-point range and only 30 percent from the free throw line. After 20 minutes of play, RPI was down by 16 points.

The second half was better for Rensselaer, hitting many of the perimeter shots that they had missed in the first half, but the Red Hawks were consistently kept out of the paint by the Continentals, and the first half deficit proved too large for the visitors to overcome.

Head Coach Mike Griffin was very disappointed with his team’s performance on Friday.

“We didn’t start playing until 8:15. Hamilton started at 8:00,” he said.

The Red Hawks fared better in Saturday’s match. They battled with the Statesmen throughout the first half, shooting 48 percent from the field and amassing a five-point lead at the half.

Rensselaer threatened to break the game open by increasing their lead to 10 points at the opening of the second, but a 12-2 run by Hobart tied the score at 39.

Griffin noted that as the key point in the game, especially since the Red Hawks had not won any of their close games this season.

“At that point,” he said, “it was ‘Let’s see what we got.’”

The team rose to the challenge, scoring the next six points to take the lead for good. Down the stretch, Hobart was unable to get closer than seven points due to accurate free throw shooting by the Red Hawks, something that has been lacking for much of the season.

Kevin Moore led Rensselaer with 20 points, and Jared Hite, the team’s leading scorer, had what Griffin described as the best game of his career, scoring 19 points and pulling down 17 boards. Van Schaick, who was named the UCAA Rookie of the Week, added 14 points, including going three-for-three from downtown.

Since before play began this year, Griffin has been saying that this weekend would be a critical point in the team’s season, and that the Red Hawks needed to split their first two conference games to be competitive in the UCAA.

“We’re in the mix now,” said Griffin.

The Red Hawks continue with another pair of UCAA games this weekend, hosting Clarkson on Friday and St. Lawrence on Saturday.