The men’s basketball team, on the other hand, suffered a lot of defeat throughout the early winter season.

The Red Hawks started off the early winter season by traveling to Maine to play in the Mad Monk Tournament at St. Josephs college on December 7 and 8. They played their first game against Worcester State. In the first half they fell behind seven points. In the second half they closed the gap by four points, but still fell to the Lancers, 60-63. On December 8 they played a consolation game against the Elms College Blazers, beating them out 79-63.

Sophmore guard Paris Moore helped to place the Red Hawks to a third place finish by averaging 18 points and seven rebounds per game.

The RPI team found another win in their January 2,2003 game against Stevens Tech. This game stayed close throught the first two periods of play, therefore causing regulation game to end in a tie between the two teams. In overtime, however, the Red Hawks pulled ahead, winning the game 67-57

Junior forward, Jared Hite helped the team to victory by scoring 18 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. His teammate Paris Moore added 12 points to add to the win.

The Red Hawks were pretty evenly matched against Middlebury on January 5. With just a marginal lead in both halves, RPI found themselves with a 84-81 lead thanks to junior Jared Hite who scored 20 points and had 13 rebounds.

Another win lay in wait for the Red Hawks as they played Southern Vermont. Following a modest first half, RPI used a strong second half to propel themselves to a 77-70 lead. Senior guard, Kevin Moore helped lead the Red Hawks to victory by scoring 17 points,seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

That was to be the end of the Red Hawks’ luck. The Red Hawks traveled to Massachussets and suffered a narrow loss on January 9, 2003 against MIT. Both periods were close, but RPI could not close the seven-point gap from the first half. They lost the game by four points with a final score of 54-50.

In the last game of the break, played on January 11, the Red Hawks played Yale, their first division 1 opponent since the 1985-86 season. The Red Hawks suffered a crushing defeat by Yale, losing the game 100-49. The team played without their leading scorer Jared Hite. This loss dropped the team to a 6-5 overall standing.

The men’s basketball team will begin their league schedule at home on Friday at 6 pm against Union.